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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Seymour_(actress) | Jane Seymour (actress) | Jane Seymour (born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg; 15 February 1951) is a British actress. After making her screen debut as an uncredited teenage extra in the 1969 musical comedy Oh! What a Lovely War, Seymour moved to roles in film and television, including a leading role in the television series The Onedin Line (1972–1973) the role of psychic Bond girl Solitaire in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973) and as Serina in the original 1978 series of Battlestar Galactica.
Critical acclaim came with a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for her role in Captains and the Kings (1976). In 1982, Seymour won her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role in the miniseries East of Eden (1981). She received three additional Golden Globe nominations in that same category: one for her portrayal of Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American wife of the former King Edward VIII, in the television film The Woman He Loved (1988), and another two (in consecutive years) for her role in the miniseries War and Remembrance (1988-1989). Her War and Remembrance role also garnered her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special.
Seymour also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special for her portrayal of Maria Callas in Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988).
In 1993, Seymour was cast as Dr. Michaela Quinn in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, a medical drama set in the 1880s Wild West. For her performance in this role, over the course of its six-season run she received nominations twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, twice for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and four times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama. Winning one of the latter awards.
She later earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and, in 2000, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Seymour also had roles in numerous films, including Somewhere in Time (1980), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), La Révolution française (1989), Wedding Crashers (2005), Love, Wedding, Marriage (2011), Little Italy (2018), The War with Grandpa (2020) and Friendsgiving (2020).
In addition to her acting career, Seymour established a nonprofit, the Open Hearts Foundation, co-authored several children's books and self-help books, and created jewellery, scarves, furniture, rugs, handbags, paintings and sculptures under the label Jane Seymour Designs.
== Early life ==
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born on 15 February 1951 in Uxbridge, Middlesex (now part of Greater London), England, to Mieke van Tricht (1914–2007), a nurse, and Benjamin John Frankenberg FRCOG (1914–1990), a distinguished gynaecologist and obstetrician. Her father was Jewish; born in England to a family from Nowe Trzepowo, a village in Poland. Her mother was a Dutch Protestant (with family from Deventer) who was a prisoner of war during World War II, and had lived in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Seymour stated that she'd learned Dutch from her mother and the fellow survivors from the Japanese internment camp, who frequently spent holidays together in the Netherlands, when she was a child. Encouraged by her parents (who sent her to live with family friends in Geneva to practise her languages) --- she'd learned to speak fluent French.
Her paternal grandfather Lee Grahame had come to live in the East End of London, after escaping the Czarist pogroms when he was just 14. He is listed in the 1911 census as living in Bethnal Green, working as a hairdresser. Then went on to establish his own company. Seymour's father Benjamin qualified at the UCL Medical School in 1938. Joining the medical branch of the RAFVR after the outbreak of war. Serving in England, Belgium, Italy and South Africa. Ending his service as a squadron leader with a mention in despatches. After the war, Frankenberg continued his career at various London hospitals, including St Leonard's Hospital, Hackney, the East End Maternity Hospital, the City of London Maternity Hospital and finally Hillingdon Hospital, for which he designed the maternity unit. A close associate of Patrick Steptoe, he assisted in pioneering discussions on in-vitro fertilisation and published papers on adolescent and teenage sexual behaviours.
Seymour was educated at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire. Choosing the screen name Jane Seymour, after the English queen Jane Seymour, because it seemed more saleable. One of her notable features is heterochromia, making her right eye brown and her left eye green.
== Acting career ==
In 1969, Seymour appeared uncredited in her first film, Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War. In 1970, she appeared in her first major film role in the war drama The Only Way. Playing Lillian Stein; a Jewish woman seeking shelter from Nazi persecution. In 1973, she gained her first major television role as Emma Callon, in the successful 1970s series The Onedin Line. During this time, she appeared as the female lead Prima, in the two-part television miniseries Frankenstein: The True Story. Later appearing as Winston Churchill's girlfriend Pamela Plowden in Young Winston, produced by her father-in-law Richard Attenborough.
In 1973, she achieved international fame in her role as Bond girl Solitaire in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. IGN ranking her as 10th in a Top 10 Bond Babes list. In 1975, she was cast as Princess Farah in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, the third part of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy. Filmed in 1975, it was not released until its stop motion animation sequences had been completed in 1977. Then in 1978, she appeared as Serina in the Battlestar Galactica film, and in the first five episodes of the television series. She later returned to the big screen in the comedy Oh Heavenly Dog opposite Chevy Chase.
In 1980, she played the role on stage of Constanze in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus, opposite Ian McKellen as Salieri. With Tim Curry as Mozart. The play premiering on Broadway in 1980, running for 1,181 performances. And was nominated for seven Tony Awards, of which it won five.
Also in 1980, she was given the role of young theatre actress Elise McKenna in the period romance Somewhere in Time. Though the film was made with a markedly limited budget, the role enticed her with a character she'd felt she knew. The effort decided a break from her earlier work, and marked the start of her friendship with co-star Christopher Reeve.
In 1981, she appeared in the television film East of Eden, based on the novel by John Steinbeck. Her portrayal of main antagonist Cathy Ames which won her a Golden Globe. In 1982, she appeared in The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews, and her Amadeus costar Ian McKellen. In 1984, she appeared nude in the film Lassiter, co-starring Tom Selleck. But the film was a box office flop. In 1987, she was the subject of a pictorial in Playboy magazine, although she did not pose nude.
In 1988, she won the female lead in the twelve-part television miniseries War and Remembrance, the continued story from the miniseries The Winds of War. Playing Natalie Henry, an American Jewish woman trapped in Europe during World War II. That same year, she won an Emmy Award for playing Maria Callas in the television movie Onassis: The Richest Man in the World.
In 1989, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, she appeared in the television film La révolution française, filmed in both French and English. Then appeared as the doomed French queen, Marie Antoinette; her two children, Katherine and Sean, appearing as the queen's children.
In the 1990s, Seymour earned popular and critical praise for her onging headlining role as Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and its television sequels Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Movie (1999) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within (2001). Her work on the original series earning her a second Golden Globe Award. And while working in the series, she met her fourth husband, actor-director James Keach.
In the 2000s, she continued to work primarily in television. In 2004 and 2005, she made six guest appearances in The WB series Smallville, playing Genevieve Teague, the wealthy, scheming mother of Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles). In 2005, she returned to the big screen in the comedy Wedding Crashers, playing Kathleen Cleary, wife of fictional United States Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary, played by Christopher Walken. In spring 2006, she appeared in the short-lived The WB series Modern Men. Later that year, she guest-starred as a law school professor on an episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and as a wealthy client on the Fox legal drama Justice. In 2007, she guest-starred in the ABC sitcom In Case of Emergency. She also appeared in ITV's Marple: Ordeal By Innocence, based on the Agatha Christie novel. Appearing as a contestant on season five of the American reality show Dancing with the Stars; where she finished in sixth place, along with her partner Tony Dovolani. Then guest starred in "One Life to Lose", a soap opera-themed episode of the ABC crime dramedy Castle.
She later appeared in the Hallmark Channel film Dear Prudence (2008); the romantic comedy Love, Wedding, Marriage (2011); and the Hallmark Movie Channel film Lake Effects (2012).
In April 2016, she starred as Florence Lancaster in Noël Coward's play The Vortex, presented in Singapore by the British Theatre Playhouse. In 2022, she began playing the title role on the Irish Acorn TV series Harry Wild.
In 2020, she starred in Ruby's Choice, an Australian comedy/drama produced and directed by Michael Budd. Which follows Ruby as a woman with early dementia, and its impact on her and her family, when she is no longer able to live independently. And so moves in with the family. Winning the Australian screen industry Network Award for best actress.
The film released theatrically across Australia and New Zealand on 3 March 2022. Then on 7 March 2022, Ruby's Choice premiered in Santa Barbara, California, at the 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Where it was a Nominee Best International Feature Film. Seymour's 'Ruby's Choice' made the U.S. premiere at SBIFF|first=Joe|last=Buttitta|date=March 8, 2022</ref> On 24 September 2023, at the Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF) Winning Best Foreign Film and Best Feature Film. The event coinciding with the honouring of the legendary filmmaker Tim Burton. 'Ruby's Choice' releasing nationwide in North America on May 7th, 2024."
Seymour then appeared in the Netflix movie, Irish Wish, released on 14 March 2024, on Netflix. Debuing at number one on Netflix's most watched films list - two days following its release.
In 2025, she began hosting an Acorn TV/BBC America series called Relative Secrets.
== Personal life ==
Seymour has been married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to Michael Attenborough. She was then briefly married to Geoffrey Planer.
In 1981, she married David Flynn. The marriage produced two children: Katherine Flynn (born on 7 February 1982) and Sean Flynn (born on 31 July 1985). Flynn involved her in the housing market, which left her "completely beyond bankrupt". The couple divorced in 1992. The following year, she married actor/producer/director James Keach. The couple had twins, John Stacy and Kristopher Steven, born on 30 November 1995. The twins were named after family friends Johnny Cash and Christopher Reeve, and James's brother, actor Stacy Keach.
In February 2005, Seymour became a naturalised citizen of the United States.
Jane is a celebrity ambassador for Childhelp, a national nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect. In 2007, she sponsored a children's Art Pillow contest as part of the Jane Seymour Collection, with the proceeds going to Childhelp.
On 12 April 2013, it was announced that she was divorcing Keach. The divorce was finalised in December 2015.
In February 2018, she posed for Playboy for a third time, becoming at the age of 67 the oldest woman to be photographed for the magazine. In the Playboy interview, she revealed that she had briefly quit acting after being sexually harassed by an unnamed film producer, in the early 1970s. She had earlier referred to the incident in her 1986 book Jane Seymour's Guide to Romantic Living.
Her Malibu house almost burned down during the 2018 fires, but was saved, according to her, "by an incredibly devoted gardener and neighbour".
Since 2023, she has been in a relationship with musician John Zambetti.
== Writing and fashion career ==
In the 1980s, Seymour began a parallel career as a writer of self-help and inspirational books, including Jane Seymour's Guide to Romantic Living (1986), Two at a Time: Having Twins (2002), Remarkable Changes (2003) and Among Angels (2010). She also co-wrote several children's books, with her then-husband James Keach, for the This One 'N That One series.
In 1985, she appeared at Fashion Aid, a one-time fashion show fundraiser held at the Royal Albert Hall in London and organised by Bob Geldof to raise funds for the ongoing Ethiopian famine caused by the policies of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. The finale of the show showing her partake in a mock wedding with Freddie Mercury. Jane wearing a white lace wedding dress designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel – who had previously created Princess Diana's wedding gown.
In 2008, she had replaced Selina Scott as the new face of fashion label CC (formerly known as Country Casuals) under the Austin Reed banner of retailers.
Likewise in 2008, she teamed up with and designed the "Open Heart Collection" for Kay Jewelers, which promoted it with the advice, "Keep your heart open and love will always find its way in." Beginning that year, seeing to it that she would always be wearing one of the collection's necklaces whenever seen in public, while not in character for any of her acting performances. In the same year, also writing and publishing the books Open Hearts: If Your Heart Is Open, love Will Always Find Its Way In and Open Hearts Family.
A 2.08-carat cushion-cut fancy vivid blue diamond in an 18-karat rose-gold-plated platinum setting was named "The Jane Seymour" in her honour, by World of Diamonds Group. Which had mined it in Russia, then cut and set it. The ring presented to Seymour in April 2016 in Singapore, while she was there to star in The Vortex. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Hiyō | Japanese aircraft carrier Hiyō | Hiyō (Japanese: 飛鷹; "Flying Hawk") was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Originally planned as the ocean liner Izumo Maru (出雲丸) in 1939, she was purchased by the Navy Ministry in 1941 for conversion to an aircraft carrier. Completed shortly after the Battle of Midway in June 1942, she participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, but missed the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October because of an electrical generator fire.
The carrier's aircraft were disembarked several times and used from land bases in battles in the South West Pacific. Hiyō was torpedoed in mid-1943 and spent three months under repair. She spent most of the next six months training and ferrying aircraft before returning to combat. She was sunk by a gasoline-vapour explosion caused by an American torpedo hit during the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 20 June 1944 with the loss of 247 officers and ratings, about a fifth of her complement.
== Design and description ==
The ship was ordered as the fast luxury passenger liner Izumo Maru by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Company) in late 1938. In exchange for a Navy Ministry subsidy of 60% of her building costs, she was designed to be converted to an aircraft carrier in the event of war. The designs of Izumo Maru and her sister ship Kashiwara Maru were based on the German ocean liner SS Bremen, although they were only about half that ship's size at 27,700 gross register tons (GRT). If completed as designed, they would have been the largest ocean liners in Japan. The ships were designed to carry a total of 890 passengers; 220 first class, 120 second class and 550 third class.
After her conversion, Hiyō had a length of 220 metres (721 ft 9 in) overall. She had a beam of 26.7 metres (87 ft 7 in) and a draught of 8.15 metres (26 ft 9 in). She displaced 24,150 tonnes (23,770 long tons) at standard load. Her crew ranged from 1,187 to 1,224 officers and ratings.
The ship was fitted with a pair of Mitsubishi-Curtis geared steam turbine sets with a total of 56,250 shaft horsepower (41,950 kW), each driving one propeller, using steam provided by six Kawasaki-LaMont boilers. Hiyō had a designed speed of 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) and slightly exceeded that during sea trials. The ship carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of 11,700 nautical miles (21,700 km; 13,500 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).
=== Flight deck arrangements ===
Hiyō's flight deck was 210.3 metres (690 ft) long and had a maximum width of 27.3 metres (89 ft 7 in). The ship was designed with two superimposed hangars, each approximately 153 metres (502 ft) long, 15 metres (49 ft) wide and 5 metres (16 ft) high. Each hangar could be subdivided by four fire curtains and they had fire fighting foam dispensers on each side. The hangars were served by two aircraft lifts.
Her air group was initially intended to consist of 12 Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" fighters, plus four in storage, 18 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers, plus two in storage, and 18 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers. This was revised to substitute a dozen Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and three in storage for the A5Ms by the time the ship was commissioned in 1942. As a result of the lessons learnt from the Battle of Midway in June, the fighter complement was increased to 21 Zeros and the B5Ns were reduced to 9. By the end of the year, 6 more Zeros replaced an equal number of D3As, giving totals of 27 A6Ms, 12 D3As and 9 B5Ns. Although it was possible to fit all these aircraft into the hangars, 8 or 9 were usually stored on the flight deck to reduce congestion below decks.
=== Armour, armament and sensors ===
As a conversion from an ocean liner, it was not possible to add much armour, although the ship had a double hull. Two plates of Ducol steel, each 25 millimetres (1 in) thick, protected the sides of the ship's machinery spaces. The ship's aviation gasoline tanks and magazines were protected by one layer of Ducol steel. Her machinery spaces were further subdivided by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads to limit any flooding.
The ship's primary armament consisted of a dozen 12.7-centimetre (5 in) Type 89 dual-purpose guns in twin mounts on sponsons along the sides of the hull. Hiyō was also initially equipped with eight triple mounts for 2.5 cm Type 96 light AA guns alongside the flight deck. This was the standard Japanese light AA gun during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings which rendered it a largely ineffective weapon. According to historian Mark Stille, the twin and triple mounts "lacked sufficient speed in train or elevation; the gun sights were unable to handle fast targets; the gun exhibited excessive vibration; the magazine was too small, and, finally, the gun produced excessive muzzle blast". In early 1943, four more triple mounts were added, and another four triple mounts were added late in the year. Two of these last four mounts were mounted on the stern and the others were placed in front of and behind the island. A dozen single mounts were also added, some of which were portable and could be mounted on tie-down points on the flight deck.
Two Type 94 high-angle fire-control directors, one on each side of the ship, were fitted to control the Type 89 guns. Four Type 95 directors controlled the 2.5 cm guns, and another pair were added in early 1943. Early warning was provided by two Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 early-warning radars. The first of these was mounted on the top of the island shortly before she was completed in July 1942 and the other was added later in the year. This latter system was fitted on the port side of the hull, outboard of the aft lift. A smaller Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 early-warning radar was added in 1944.
== Construction and career ==
Hiyō was laid down on 30 November 1939 by Kawasaki on Slipway No. 4 at their shipyard in Kobe. She was yard number 660 and had the name Izumo Maru. The ship was purchased on 10 February 1941 by the Navy Ministry, and she was temporarily referred to as No. 1002 Ship (Dai 1002 bankan) to keep her conversion secret. She was launched on 24 June 1941 and commissioned on 31 July 1942 with Captain Akitomo Beppu in command.
The ship was assigned to the Second Carrier Division of the 1st Air Fleet after commissioning and became flagship of Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta on 12 August. After spending the next few months working up, Hiyō arrived at Truk, together with her sister Jun'yō, on 9 October, to begin operations against American forces in the Guadalcanal area as part of the 3rd Fleet. On the night of 16 October, the two carriers were ordered to attack the American transports off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, and they moved south to their launching point 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) north of Lunga. At 05:15 local each ship launched nine A6M Zeros and nine B5Ns. One of Jun'yō's B5Ns was forced to turn back with mechanical problems; the rest reached their objective and discovered two destroyers bombarding Japanese supply dumps on Guadalcanal around 07:20. Hiyō's aircraft attacked USS Aaron Ward seven minutes later without effect, and the American ship shot down one B5N and damaged another which was forced to make a crash landing. Jun'yō's eight B5Ns engaged USS Lardner and also failed to hit their target, not least because they were attacked by Marine Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters at 07:32. The Marine pilots shot down three B5Ns on their first pass and severely damaged another pair which were also forced to crash-land. The US fighters then shot down the three remaining bombers after they missed Lardner. The defending Zeros were able to shoot down only one Wildcat at the cost of one of Hiyō's fighters forced to crash land, although they claimed to have shot down thirteen Marine fighters.
A fire in the ship's generator room occurred on 21 October and reduced her top speed to 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph), so Kakuta transferred his flag to Jun'yō while Hiyō returned to Truk for repairs. Three Zeros, one D3A and five B5Ns were also transferred to Jun'yō before she left. The remaining aircraft of her air group (16 Zeros and 17 D3As) were flown off for Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, on 23 October, from where the fighters escorted bombers attacking Guadalcanal the following day. A detachment from the air group was transferred to Buin, New Guinea, on 1 November and attacked American ships off Lunga Point on 11 November. Escorted by 18 Zeros from Hiyō and the 204th Naval Air Group, 9 D3As slightly damaged three cargo ships in exchange for 4 dive bombers shot down and another forced to crash land. The Zeros were able to ambush six Wildcats in the heavy cloud and shot down four while losing two of their own. That same day, those aircraft that remained at Rabaul flew back to Truk, but the Buin detachment remained there until 14 December when they were ferried back to Japan. Captain Michio Sumikawa relieved Beppu on 30 November.
Hiyō spent November in Truk before returning in early December to Japan, where she was rejoined by the rest of her air group. Aside from a brief refit at Kure from 26 February to 4 March 1943 that saw her anti-aircraft armament augmented and an additional radar installed, the ship was training in the Inland Sea until she sailed for Truk on 22 March. Her air group consisted of 27 Zeros and 12 D3As, and they were detached from Hiyō in early April to participate in Operation I-Go, a land-based aerial offensive against Allied bases in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. On 7 April her aircraft formed most of the third wave of attacks on Guadalcanal. Escorted by 24 Zeros from Hiyō and another 6 from the light carrier Zuihō, the D3As attacked shipping in the Sealark Channel. The escorts claimed to have shot down three American aircraft for the loss of one Zero and three dive bombers. Allied naval losses during the entire day included Aaron Ward, the oil tanker Kanawha, the minesweeper HMNZS Moa and damage to a transport and another tanker, although it is uncertain which aircraft sank or damaged each ship.
A second series of attacks was made against Oro Bay, New Guinea, on 11 April. Jun'yō's 9 Zeros, together with Hiyō's 21 fighters, escorted the latter's D3As. One defending fighter was claimed for the loss of a single dive bomber. The following day, 17 of Hiyō's Zeros provided top cover for several waves of attacks on Port Moresby, New Guinea, her pilots claiming nine victories without losing any of their own. On 14 April, the Japanese attacked Milne Bay, New Guinea, with a large force escorted by 75 Zeros contributed by all the carriers involved. Hiyō's fighter pilots claimed to have shot down three Allied aircraft without loss, and the bombers sank two transports. Her air group returned to Truk by 18 April to rejoin the ship.
In response to the invasion of Attu Island on 11 May, the Second Carrier Division departed Truk, accompanied by three battleships and two heavy cruisers, and reached Japan on 25 May. The Americans recaptured Attu before the fleet could depart to counter-attack. Now the flagship of the Second Carrier Division under Rear Admiral Munetaka Sakamaki, Hiyō departed Yokosuka on 7 June with Junyō en route for Truk. Later that evening, the ship was torpedoed by the submarine USS Trigger off Miyakejima. Hits in the starboard bow and boiler room knocked out all power but she managed to return to Japan the following day after restoring power. Hiyō's fighters were flown to Truk by 15 July and assigned to the light carrier Ryūhō, as were Sakamaki and his staff. While being repaired at Yokosuka until 15 September, more 2.5 cm Type 96 AA guns were installed, and Sumikawa was relieved by Captain Tamotsu Furukawa on 1 September. Two months later, Hiyō's air group was reconstituted in Singapore with 24 Zeros, 18 D3As and 9 B5Ns; the ship departed Japan for Singapore on 24 November. She arrived on 3 December, loaded her air group and was almost immediately assigned duties as an aircraft ferry. On 9 December, Hiyō left Singapore en route for Truk with several deliveries on the way. The ship arrived there on 22 December and disembarked her aircraft before proceeding to Saipan to deliver more aircraft. The air group was transferred to Kavieng and later Rabaul to provide air cover for Japanese operations there, in which the fighters claimed 80 victories in exchange for 12 losses.
Hiyō returned to Japan on 1 January 1944, and Furukawa was relieved by Captain Toshiyuki Yokoi on 15 February. Her air group was reassigned to her on 2 March, albeit without aircraft. The Japanese Navy had restructured its carrier air groups so that one air group was assigned to one carrier division and the 652nd Naval Air Group was assigned to the Second Carrier Division with Hiyō, Jun'yō and Ryūhō. The air group was the last to be rebuilt; it had only 30 Model 21 Zeros, 13 Model 52 Zeros and four D3As on hand on 1 April of its authorised 81 fighters, 36 dive bombers and 27 torpedo bombers. The ship conducted training for her aircraft in the Inland Sea until 11 May when she sailed for Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines. The new base was closer to the oil wells in Borneo on which the Navy relied for fuel and also to the Palau and western Caroline Islands, where the Japanese expected the next American attack. The location lacked an airfield on which to train the green pilots, and American submarines were very active in the vicinity which restricted the ships to the anchorage.
=== Battle of the Philippine Sea ===
The Japanese fleet was en route to Guimaras Island in the central Philippines on 13 June 1944 where it intended to practice carrier operations in an area better protected from submarines, when Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa learnt of the American attack on the Mariana Islands the previous day. Upon reaching Guimaras, the fleet refuelled and sortied into the Philippine Sea where it spotted Task Force 58 on 18 June. The Americans failed to detect the Japanese ships that day. Ozawa decided to launch his air strikes early the following morning, so the Japanese turned south to maintain a constant distance between them and the American carriers. The 652nd Naval Air Group had 81 Zeros, 27 D3As, 9 Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bombers and 18 Nakajima B6N "Jill" torpedo bombers, roughly evenly divided among the three carriers under his command. The carriers began launching their first air strike of 26 bomb-carrying A6M2 Zeros, 7 B6Ns and 16 A6M5 Zeros as escorts around 09:30. Most of these aircraft were misdirected and failed to find any American ships, although a dozen persisted in their search and found one of the American task groups. A B6N, 5 bomb-carrying Zeros and an escort Zero were shot down by the defending fighters, and no damage was inflicted on the American ships.
A second air strike of 27 D3As, 9 D4Ys, 2 B6Ns and 26 escorting Zeros was launched around 11:00, accompanied by at least 18 A6Ms and B6Ns from the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku. They had also been given an erroneous spot report and were unable to find any American ships. Some of the aircraft headed for airfields at Rota and Guam to refuel while the remainder headed back to the carriers. A pair of Zeros and six D4Ys bound for Rota spotted the carriers Wasp and Bunker Hill en route, but failed to inflict any damage on them while losing five D4Ys to anti-aircraft fire. Radar had spotted those aircraft headed for Guam, and they were intercepted by 41 Grumman F6F Hellcats. Only an A6M5, a D4Y and seven D3As of the 49 Japanese aircraft survived the encounter and landed.
At dusk, the Japanese turned away to the north west to regroup and to refuel, and the Americans turned west to close the distance. They discovered the retiring Japanese fleet during the afternoon of the following day, and Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher ordered an air strike. Hiyō was struck by two bombs, one of which detonated above the bridge and killed or wounded virtually everyone there. More seriously, the ship was struck by one torpedo dropped by a Grumman TBF Avenger from the light carrier Belleau Wood. The torpedo knocked out the starboard engine room and started fires but Hiyō was able to continue, at reduced speed. Two hours later, a large explosion occurred when leaking gasoline vapour ignited and knocked out all power on the ship. The fires raged out of control and Hiyō sank stern first shortly afterwards at 16°20′N 132°32′E. Roughly 1,200 men were rescued by her escorting destroyers, but 247 officers and ratings died aboard the carrier.
== Footnotes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar | Julius Caesar | Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and author who was the dictator of the Roman Republic almost continuously from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. A member of the First Triumvirate, he led the Roman armies through the Gallic Wars and defeated his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil war. He consolidated power and proclaimed himself dictator for life in 44 BC, which contributed to the political conditions that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and the emergence of the Roman Empire. For his role in these events, he is regarded as one of the most influential historical figures.
In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass political power were opposed by many in the Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the private support of Cicero. Caesar rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in the Roman Republic through a string of military victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, which greatly extended Roman territory. During this time, he invaded Britain and built a bridge across the Rhine. These achievements and the support of his veteran army threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey. The alliance between Caesar and Pompey slowly broke down and, by 50 BC, Pompey had realigned himself with the Senate. With his command expiring and the Gallic Wars largely concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. In early January 49 BC, Caesar openly defied the Senate by crossing the Rubicon and marching towards Rome at the head of an army. This began Caesar's civil war, which he won, leaving him in a position of near-unchallenged power and influence in 45 BC.
After assuming control of government and pardoning many of his enemies, Caesar set upon a vigorous reform and building programme. He created the Julian calendar to replace the republican lunisolar calendar, reduced the size of the grain dole, settled his veterans in new overseas colonies, greatly increased the size of the Senate, and extended citizenship to communities in Spain and what is now northern Italy. In early 44 BC, he was proclaimed "dictator for life". Fearful of his power, domination of the state, and the possibility that he might make himself king, a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC. A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesar's great-nephew and adoptive heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents thirteen years later. Octavian then set about solidifying his power, transforming the Republic into the Roman Empire as its emperor.
Caesar was an accomplished author and historian; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. Later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also important sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for emperor; the title Caesar was used throughout the Roman Empire, and gave rise to modern descendants such as Kaiser and Tsar. He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works.
== Early life and career ==
Gaius Julius Caesar was born into a patrician family, the gens Julia, on 12 or 13 July 100 BC. The family claimed to have immigrated to Rome from Alba Longa during the seventh century BC after the third king of Rome, Tullus Hostilius, took and destroyed their city. The family also claimed descent from Julus, the son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa. Given that Aeneas was a son of Venus, this made the clan divine. This genealogy had not yet taken its final form by the first century, but the clan's claimed descent from Venus was well established in public consciousness. There is no evidence that Caesar himself was born by Caesarian section; such operations entailed the death of the mother, but Caesar's mother lived for decades after his birth and no ancient sources record any difficulty with the birth.
Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential during the middle republic. The first person known to have had the cognomen Caesar was a praetor in 208 BC during the Second Punic War. The family's first consul was in 157 BC, though their political fortunes had recovered in the early first century, producing two consuls in 91 and 90 BC. Caesar's homonymous father was moderately successful politically. He married Aurelia, a member of the politically influential Aurelii Cottae, producing – along with Caesar – two daughters. Buoyed by his own marriage and the marriage of his sister to the extremely influential Gaius Marius, he also served on the Saturninian land commission in 103 BC and was elected praetor some time between 92 and 85 BC; he served as proconsular governor of Asia for two years, likely 91–90 BC.
=== Life under Sulla and military service ===
Caesar's father did not seek a consulship during the domination of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and instead chose retirement. During Cinna's dominance, Caesar was named as flamen Dialis (a priest of Jupiter) which led to his marriage to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia. The religious taboos of the priesthood would have forced Caesar to forgo a political career; the appointment – one of the highest non-political honours – indicates that there were few expectations of a major career for Caesar. In early 84 BC, Caesar's father died suddenly. After Sulla's victory in the civil war (82 BC), Cinna's acta were annulled. Sulla consequently ordered Caesar to abdicate and divorce Cinna's daughter. Caesar refused, implicitly questioning the legitimacy of Sulla's annulment. Sulla may have put Caesar on the proscription lists, though scholars are mixed. Caesar then went into hiding before his relatives and contacts among the Vestal Virgins were able to intercede on his behalf. They then reached a compromise where Caesar would resign his priesthood but keep his wife and chattels; Sulla's alleged remark he saw "in [Caesar] many Mariuses" is apocryphal.
Caesar then left Italy to serve in the staff of the governor of Asia, Marcus Minucius Thermus. While there, he travelled to Bithynia to collect naval reinforcements and stayed some time as a guest of the king, Nicomedes IV, though later invective connected Caesar to a homosexual relation with the monarch. He then served at the Siege of Mytilene where he won the civic crown for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle. The privileges of the crown – the Senate was supposed to stand on a holder's entrance and holders were permitted to wear the crown at public occasions – whetted Caesar's appetite for honours. After the capture of Mytilene, Caesar transferred to the staff of Publius Servilius Vatia in Cilicia before learning of Sulla's death in 78 BC and returning home immediately. He was alleged to have wanted to join in on the consul Lepidus' revolt that year but this is likely literary embellishment of Caesar's desire for tyranny from a young age.
Afterward, Caesar attacked some of the Sullan aristocracy in the courts but was unsuccessful in his attempted prosecution of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella in 77 BC, who had recently returned from a proconsulship in Macedonia. Going after a less well-connected senator, he was successful the next year in prosecuting Gaius Antonius Hybrida (later consul in 63 BC) for profiteering from the proscriptions but was forestalled when a tribune interceded on Antonius' behalf. After these oratorical attempts, Caesar left Rome for Rhodes seeking the tutelage of the rhetorician Apollonius Molon. While travelling, he was intercepted and ransomed by pirates in a story that was later much embellished. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, he was freed after paying a ransom of fifty talents and responded by returning with a fleet to capture and execute the pirates. The recorded sum for the ransom is literary embellishment and it is more likely that the pirates were sold into slavery per Velleius Paterculus. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Third Mithridatic War over the winter of 75 and 74 BC; Caesar is alleged to have gone around collecting troops in the province at the locals' expense and leading them successfully against Mithridates' forces.
=== Entrance to politics ===
While absent from Rome, in 73 BC, Caesar was co-opted into the pontifices in place of his deceased relative Gaius Aurelius Cotta. The promotion marked him as a well-accepted member of the aristocracy with great future prospects in his political career. Caesar decided to return shortly thereafter and on his return was elected one of the military tribunes for 71 BC. There is no evidence that Caesar served in war – even though the war on Spartacus was ongoing – during his term; he did, however, agitate for the removal of Sulla's disabilities on the plebeian tribunate and for those who supported Lepidus' revolt to be pardoned. These advocacies were common and uncontroversial. The next year, 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus were consuls and brought legislation restoring the plebeian tribunate's rights; one of the tribunes, with Caesar supporting, then brought legislation pardoning the Lepidan exiles.
For his quaestorship in 69 BC, Caesar was allotted to serve under Gaius Antistius Vetus in Hispania Ulterior. His election also gave him a lifetime seat in the Senate. However, before he left, his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius, died; and, soon afterwards, his wife Cornelia died shortly after bearing his only legitimate child, Julia. He gave eulogies for both at public funerals. During his aunt's funeral, Caesar displayed the images of Marius, whose memory had been suppressed after Sulla's victory in the civil war. Some of the Sullan nobles – including Quintus Lutatius Catulus – who had suffered under the Marian regime objected, but by this point depictions of husbands in aristocratic women's funerary processions was common. Contra Plutarch, Caesar's action here was likely in keeping with a political trend for reconciliation and normalisation rather than a display of renewed factionalism. Caesar quickly remarried, taking the hand of Sulla's granddaughter Pompeia.
=== Aedileship and election as pontifex maximus ===
For much of this period, Caesar was one of Pompey's supporters. Caesar joined with Pompey in the late 70s to support restoration of tribunician rights; his support for the law recalling the Lepidan exiles may have been related to the same tribune's bill to grant lands to Pompey's veterans. Caesar also supported the lex Gabinia in 67 BC granting Pompey an extraordinary command against piracy in the Mediterranean and also supported the lex Manilia in 66 BC to reassign the Third Mithridatic War from its then-commander Lucullus to Pompey.
Four years after his aunt Julia's funeral, in 65 BC, Caesar served as curule aedile and staged lavish games that won him further attention and popular support. He also restored the trophies won by Marius, and taken down by Sulla, over Jugurtha and the Cimbri. According to Plutarch's narrative, the trophies were restored overnight to the applause and tears of joy of the onlookers; however, any sudden and secret restoration of this sort would not have been possible – architects, restorers, and other workmen would have to have been hired and paid for – nor would it have been likely that the work could have been done in a single night. It is more likely that Caesar was merely restoring his family's public monuments – consistent with standard aristocratic practice and the virtue of pietas – and, over objections from Catulus, these actions were broadly supported by the Senate.
In 63 BC, Caesar stood for the praetorship and also for the post of pontifex maximus, who was the head of the College of Pontiffs and the highest ranking state religious official. In the pontifical election before the tribes, Caesar faced two influential senators: Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilius Isauricus. Caesar came out victorious. Many scholars have expressed astonishment that Caesar's candidacy was taken seriously, but this was not without historical precedent. Ancient sources allege that Caesar paid huge bribes or was shamelessly ingratiating; that no charge was ever laid alleging this implies that bribery alone is insufficient to explain his victory. If bribes or other monies were needed, they may have been underwritten by Pompey, whom Caesar at this time supported and who opposed Catulus' candidacy.
Many sources also assert that Caesar supported the land reform proposals brought that year by plebeian tribune Publius Servilius Rullus, however, there are no ancient sources so attesting. Caesar also engaged in a collateral manner in the trial of Gaius Rabirius by one of the plebeian tribunes – Titus Labienus – for the murder of Saturninus in accordance with a senatus consultum ultimum some forty years earlier. The most famous event of the year was the Catilinarian conspiracy. While some of Caesar's enemies, including Catulus, alleged that he participated in the conspiracy, the chance that he was a participant is extremely small.
=== Praetorship ===
Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63 BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy. Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial; the later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property. Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the lex Sempronia de capite civis, and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by Cato, however, swayed the Senate at the end for execution.
During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey. This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition. He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune Metellus Nepos to transfer the command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the comitia tributa in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and Quintus Minucius Thermus, the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been a constitutional impossibility – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority. He also was engaged in the Bona Dea affair, where Publius Clodius Pulcher sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion" – but there is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way.
After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern Hispania Ulterior pro consule. Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off. He campaigned against the Callaeci and Lusitani and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to the Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts. Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed imperator. When he arrived home in the summer of 60 BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the pomerium (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross the boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy. Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception. Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.
== First consulship and the Gallic Wars ==
Caesar stood for the consulship of 59 BC along with two other candidates. His political position at the time was strong: he had supporters among the families which had supported Marius or Cinna; his connection with the Sullan aristocracy was good; his support of Pompey had won him support in turn. His support for reconciliation in continuing aftershocks of the civil war was popular in all parts of society. With the support of Crassus, who supported Caesar's joint ticket with one Lucius Lucceius, Caesar won. Lucceius, however, did not and the voters returned Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus instead, one of Caesar's long-standing personal and political enemies.
=== First consulship ===
After the elections, Caesar reconciled Pompey and Crassus, two political foes, in a three-way alliance misleadingly termed the "First Triumvirate" in modern times. Caesar was still at work in December of 60 BC attempting to find allies for his consulship and the alliance was finalised only some time around its start. Pompey and Crassus joined in pursuit of two respective goals: the ratification of Pompey's eastern settlement and the bailing out of tax farmers in Asia, many of whom were Crassus' clients. All three sought the extended patronage of land grants, with Pompey especially seeking the promised land grants for his veterans.
Caesar's first act was to publish the minutes of the Senate and the assemblies, signalling the Senate's accountability to the public. He then brought in the Senate a bill – crafted to avoid objections to previous land reform proposals and any indications of radicalism – to purchase property from willing sellers to distribute to Pompey's veterans and the urban poor. It would be administered by a board of twenty (with Caesar excluded), and financed by Pompey's plunder and territorial gains. Referring it to the Senate in hope that it would take up the matter to show its beneficence for the people, there was little opposition and the obstructionism that occurred was largely unprincipled, firmly opposing it not on grounds of public interest but rather opposition to Caesar's political advancement. Unable to overcome Cato's filibustering, he moved the bill before the people and, at a public meeting, Caesar's co-consul Bibulus threatened a permanent veto for the entire year. This clearly violated the people's well-established legislative sovereignty and triggered a riot in which Bibulus' fasces were broken, symbolising popular rejection of his magistracy. The bill was then voted through. Bibulus attempted to induce the Senate to nullify it on grounds it was passed by violence and contrary to the auspices but the Senate refused.
Caesar also brought and passed a one-third write-down of tax farmers' arrears for Crassus and ratification of Pompey's eastern settlements. Both bills were passed with little or no debate in the Senate. Caesar then moved to extend his agrarian bill to Campania some time in May; this may be when Bibulus withdrew to his house. Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance. An ally of Caesar's, plebeian tribune Publius Vatinius moved the lex Vatinia assigning the provinces of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul to Caesar for five years. Suetonius' claim that the Senate had assigned to Caesar the silvae callesque ("woods and tracks") is likely an exaggeration: fear of Gallic invasion had grown in 60 BC and it is more likely that the consuls had been assigned to Italy, a defensive posture that Caesarian partisans dismissed as "mere 'forest tracks'". The Senate was also persuaded to assign to Caesar Transalpine Gaul as well, subject to annual renewal, most likely to control his ability to make war on the far side of the Alps.
Some time in the year, perhaps after the passing of the bill distributing the Campanian land and after these political defeats, Bibulus withdrew to his house. There, he issued edicts in absentia, purporting unprecedentedly to cancel all days on which Caesar or his allies could hold votes for religious reasons. Cato too attempted symbolic gestures against Caesar, which allowed him and his allies to "feign victimisation"; these tactics were successful in building revulsion to Caesar and his allies through the year. This opposition caused serious political difficulties to Caesar and his allies, belying the common depiction of triumviral political supremacy. Later in the year, however, Caesar – with the support of his opponents – brought and passed the lex Julia de repetundis to crack down on provincial corruption. When his consulship ended, Caesar's legislation was challenged by two of the new praetors but discussion in the Senate stalled and was regardless dropped. He stayed near the city until some time around mid-March.
=== Campaigns in Gaul ===
During the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote his Commentaries thereon, which were acknowledged even in his time as a Latin literary masterwork. Meant to document Caesar's campaigns in his own words and maintain support in Rome for his military operations and career, he produced some ten volumes covering operations in Gaul from 58 to 52 BC. Each was likely produced in the year following the events described and was likely aimed at the general, or at least literate, population in Rome; the account is naturally partial to Caesar – his defeats are excused and victories highlighted – but it is almost the sole source for events in Gaul in this period.
Gaul in 58 BC was in the midst of some instability. Tribes had raided into Transalpine Gaul and there was an on-going struggle between two tribes in central Gaul which collaterally involved Roman alliances and politics. The divisions within the Gauls – they were no unified bloc – would be exploited in the coming years. The first engagement was in April 58 BC when Caesar prevented the migrating Helvetii from moving through Roman territory, allegedly because he feared they would unseat a Roman ally. Building a wall, he stopped their movement near Geneva and – after raising two legions – defeated them at the Battle of Bibracte before forcing them to return to their original homes. He was drawn further north responding to requests from Gallic tribes, including the Aedui, for aid against Ariovistus – king of the Suebi and a declared friend of Rome by the Senate during Caesar's own consulship – and he defeated them at the Battle of Vosges. Wintering in northeastern Gaul near the Belgae in the winter of 58–57, Caesar's forward military position triggered an uprising to remove his troops; able to eke out a victory at the Battle of the Sabis, Caesar spent much of 56 BC suppressing the Belgae and dispersing his troops to campaign across much of Gaul, including against the Veneti in what is now Brittany. At this point, almost all of Gaul – except its central regions – fell under Roman subjugation.
Seeking to buttress his military reputation, he engaged Germans attempting to cross the Rhine, which marked it as a Roman frontier; he here built a bridge across the Rhine in a feat of engineering meant to show Rome's ability to project power. Ostensibly seeking to interdict British aid to his Gallic enemies, he led expeditions into southern Britain in 55 and 54 BC, perhaps seeking further conquests or otherwise wanting to impress readers in Rome; Britain at the time was to the Romans an "island of mystery" and "a land of wonder". He, however, withdrew from the island in the face of winter uprisings in Gaul led by the Eburones and Belgae starting in late 54 BC which ambushed and virtually annihilated a legion and five cohorts. Caesar was, however, able to lure the rebels into unfavourable terrain and routed them in battle. The next year, a greater challenge emerged with the uprising of most of central Gaul, led by Vercingetorix of the Averni. Caesar was initially defeated at Gergovia before besieging Vercingetorix at Alesia. After becoming himself besieged, Caesar won a major victory which forced Vercingetorix's surrender; Caesar then spent much of his time into 51 BC suppressing any remaining resistance.
=== Politics, Gaul, and Rome ===
In the initial years from the end of Caesar's consulship in 59 BC, the three so-called triumvirs sought to maintain the goodwill of the extremely popular Publius Clodius Pulcher, who was plebeian tribune in 58 BC and in that year successfully sent Cicero into exile. When Clodius took an anti-Pompeian stance later that year, he unsettled Pompey's eastern arrangements, started attacking the validity of Caesar's consular legislation, and by August 58 forced Pompey into seclusion. Caesar and Pompey responded by successfully backing the election of magistrates to recall Cicero from exile on the condition that Cicero would refrain from criticism or obstruction of the allies.
Politics in Rome fell into violent street clashes between Clodius and two tribunes who were friends of Cicero. With Cicero now supporting Caesar and Pompey, Caesar sent news of Gaul to Rome and claimed total victory and pacification. The Senate at Cicero's motion voted him an unprecedented fifteen days of thanksgiving. Such reports were necessary for Caesar, especially in light of senatorial opponents, to prevent the Senate from reassigning his command in Transalpine Gaul, even if his position in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum was guaranteed by the lex Vatinia until 54 BC. His success was evidently recognised when the Senate voted state funds for some of Caesar's legions, which until this time Caesar had paid for personally.
The three allies' relations broke down in 57 BC: one of Pompey's allies challenged Caesar's land reform bill and the allies had a poor showing in the elections that year. With a real threat to Caesar's command and acta brewing in 56 BC under the aegis of the unfriendly consuls, Caesar needed his allies' political support. Pompey and Crassus too wanted military commands. Their combined interests led to a renewal of the alliance; drawing in the support of Appius Claudius Pulcher and his younger brother Clodius for the consulship of 54 BC, they planned second consulships with following governorships in 55 BC for both Pompey and Crassus. Caesar, for his part, would receive a five-year extension of command.
Cicero was induced to oppose reassignment of Caesar's provinces and to defend a number of the allies' clients; his gloomy predictions of a triumviral set of consuls-designate for years on end proved an exaggeration when, only by desperate tactics, bribery, intimidation and violence were Pompey and Crassus elected consuls for 55 BC. During their consulship, Pompey and Crassus passed – with some tribunician support – the lex Pompeia Licinia extending Caesar's command and the lex Trebonia giving them respective commands in Spain and Syria, though Pompey never left for the province and remained politically active at Rome. The opposition again unified against their heavy-handed political tactics – though not against Caesar's activities in Gaul – and defeated the allies in the elections of that year.
The ambush and destruction in Gaul of a legion and five cohorts in the winter of 55–54 BC produced substantial concern in Rome about Caesar's command and competence, evidenced by the highly defensive narrative in Caesar's Commentaries. The death of Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia in childbirth c. late August 54 did not create a rift between Caesar and Pompey. At the start of 53 BC, Caesar sought and received reinforcements by recruitment and a private deal with Pompey before two years of largely unsuccessful campaigning against Gallic insurgents. In the same year, Crassus's campaign ended in disaster at the Battle of Carrhae, culminating in his death at the hands of the Parthians. When in 52 BC Pompey started the year with a sole consulship to restore order to the city, Caesar was in Gaul suppressing insurgencies; after news of his victory at Alesia, with the support of Pompey he received twenty days of thanksgiving and, pursuant to the "Law of the Ten Tribunes", the right to stand for the consulship in absentia.
== Civil war ==
From the period 52 to 49 BC, trust between Caesar and Pompey disintegrated. In 51 BC, the consul Marcellus proposed recalling Caesar, arguing that his provincia (here meaning "task") in Gaul – due to his victory against Vercingetorix in 52 – was complete; it evidently was incomplete as Caesar was that year fighting the Bellovaci and regardless the proposal was vetoed. That year, it seemed that the conservatives around Cato in the Senate would seek to enlist Pompey to force Caesar to return from Gaul without honours or a second consulship. Cato, Bibulus, and their allies, however, were successful in winning Pompey over to take a hard line against Caesar's continued command.
As 50 BC progressed, fears of civil war grew; both Caesar and his opponents started building up troops in southern Gaul and northern Italy, respectively. In the autumn, Cicero and others sought disarmament by both Caesar and Pompey, and on 1 December 50 BC this was formally proposed in the Senate. It received overwhelming support – 370 to 22 – but was not passed when one of the consuls dissolved the meeting. That year, when a rumour came to Rome that Caesar was marching into Italy, both consuls instructed Pompey to defend Italy, a charge he accepted as a last resort. At the start of 49 BC, Caesar's renewed offer that he and Pompey disarm was read to the Senate and was rejected by the hardliners. A later compromise given privately to Pompey was also rejected at their insistence. On 7 January, his supportive tribunes were driven from Rome; the Senate then declared Caesar an enemy and it issued its senatus consultum ultimum.
There is scholarly disagreement as to the specific reasons why Caesar marched on Rome. A very popular theory is that Caesar was forced to choose – when denied the immunity of his proconsular tenure – between prosecution, conviction, and exile, or civil war in defence of his position. Whether Caesar actually would have been prosecuted and convicted is debated. Some scholars believe the possibility of successful prosecution was extremely unlikely. Caesar's main objectives were to secure a second consulship – first mooted in 52 as colleague to Pompey's sole consulship – and a triumph. He feared that his opponents – then holding both consulships for 50 BC – would reject his candidacy or refuse to ratify an election he won. This also was the core of his war justification: that Pompey and his allies were planning, by force if necessary (indicated in the expulsion of the tribunes), to suppress the liberty of the Roman people to elect Caesar and honour his accomplishments.
=== Italy, Spain, and Greece ===
Around 10 or 11 January 49 BC, in response to the Senate's "final decree", Caesar crossed the Rubicon – the river defining the northern boundary of Italy – with a single legion, the Legio XIII Gemina, and ignited civil war. Upon crossing the Rubicon, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, is supposed to have quoted the Athenian playwright Menander, in Greek, "let the die be cast". Pompey and many senators fled south, believing that Caesar was marching quickly for Rome. Caesar, after capturing communication routes to Rome, paused and opened negotiations, but they fell apart amid mutual distrust. Caesar responded by advancing south, seeking to capture Pompey to force a conference.
Pompey withdrew to Brundisium and was able to escape to Greece, abandoning Italy in face of Caesar's superior forces and evading Caesar's pursuit. Caesar stayed near Rome for about two weeks – during his stay his forceful seizure of the treasury over tribunician veto put the lie to his pro-tribunician war justifications – and left Lepidus in charge of Italy while he attacked Pompey's Spanish provinces. He defeated two of Pompey's legates at the Battle of Ilerda before forcing surrender of the third; his legates moved into Sicily and into Africa, though the African expedition failed. Returning to Rome in the autumn, Caesar had Lepidus, as praetor, bring a law appointing Caesar dictator to conduct the elections; he, along with Publius Servilius Isauricus, won the following elections and would serve as consuls for 48 BC. Resigning the dictatorship after eleven days, Caesar then left Italy for Greece to stop Pompey's preparations, arriving in force in early 48 BC.
Caesar besieged Pompey at Dyrrhachium, but Pompey was able to break out and force Caesar's forces to flee. Following Pompey southeast into Greece and to save one of his legates, Caesar engaged and decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC. Pompey then fled for Egypt; Cato fled for Africa; others, like Cicero and Marcus Junius Brutus, begged for Caesar's pardon.
=== Alexandrine war and Asia Minor ===
Pompey was killed when he arrived in Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Caesar arrived three days later on 2 October 48 BC. Prevented from leaving the city by Etesian winds, Caesar decided to arbitrate an Egyptian civil war between the child pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Cleopatra, his sister, wife, and co-regent queen. In late October 48 BC, Caesar was appointed in absentia to a year-long dictatorship, after news of his victory at Pharsalus arrived to Rome. While in Alexandria, he started an affair with Cleopatra and withstood a siege by Ptolemy and his other sister Arsinoe until March 47 BC. Reinforced by eastern client allies under Mithridates of Pergamum, he then defeated Ptolemy at the Battle of the Nile and installed Cleopatra as ruler. Caesar and Cleopatra celebrated the victory with a triumphal procession on the Nile. He stayed in Egypt with Cleopatra until June or July that year, though the relevant commentaries attributed to him give no such impression. Some time in late June, Cleopatra gave birth to a child by Caesar, called Caesarion.
When Caesar landed at Antioch, he learnt that during his time in Egypt, the king of what is now Crimea, Pharnaces, had attempted to seize what had been his father's kingdom, Pontus, across the Black Sea in northern Anatolia. His invasion had swept aside Caesar's legates and the local client kings, but Caesar engaged him at Zela and defeated him immediately, leading Caesar to write veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered"), downplaying Pompey's previous Pontic victories. He then left quickly for Italy.
=== Italy, Africa, and Spain ===
Caesar's absence from Italy put Mark Antony, as magister equitum, in charge. His rule was unpopular: Publius Cornelius Dolabella, serving as plebeian tribune in 47 BC, agitated for debt relief and after that agitation got out of hand the Senate moved for Antony to restore order. Delayed by a mutiny in southern Italy, he returned and suppressed the riots by force, killing many and delivering a similar blow to his popularity. Cato had marched to Africa and there Metellus Scipio was in charge of the remaining republicans; they allied with Juba of Numidia; what used to be Pompey's fleet also raided the central Mediterranean islands. Caesar's governor in Spain, moreover, was sufficiently unpopular that the province revolted and switched to the republican side.
Caesar demoted Antony on his return and pacified the mutineers without violence before overseeing the election of magistrates for 47 BC – Italy had been ruled by Caesar's authoritarian subordinates with no ordinary consuls, praetors, etc until his return in September – and also those for 46 BC. Caesar would serve with Lepidus as consul in 46; he borrowed money for the war, confiscated and sold the property of his enemies at fair prices, and then left for Africa on 25 December 47 BC. Caesar's landing in Africa was marked with some logistical difficulties in establishing a beachhead. He was defeated by Titus Labienus at Ruspina on 4 January 46 BC and thereafter took a rather cautious approach. After inducing some desertions from the republicans, Caesar ended up surrounded at Thapsus. His troops attacked prematurely on 6 April 46 BC, starting a battle; they then won it and massacred the republican forces without quarter. Marching on Utica, where Cato commanded, Caesar arrived to find that Cato had killed himself rather than receive Caesar's clemency. Many of the remaining anti-Caesarian leaders, including Metellus Scipio and Juba, also committed suicide shortly thereafter. Labienus and two of Pompey's sons, however, had moved to the Spanish provinces in revolt. Caesar started a process of annexing parts of Numidia and then returned to Italy via Sardinia in June 46 BC.
Caesar stayed in Italy to celebrate four triumphs in late September, supposedly over four foreign enemies: Gaul, Egypt, Pharnaces (Asia), and Juba (Africa). He led Vercingetorix, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe, and Juba's son before his chariot; Vercingetorix was executed. According to Appian, in some of the triumphs, Caesar paraded pictures and models of his victories over fellow Romans in the civil wars, to popular dismay. The soldiers were each given 24,000 sesterces (a lifetime's worth of pay); further games and celebrations were put on for the plebs. Near the end of the year, Caesar heard bad news from Spain and, with an army, left for the peninsula, leaving Lepidus in charge as magister equitum.
At a bloody battle at Munda on 17 March 45 BC, Caesar narrowly found victory; his enemies were treated as rebels and he had them massacred. Labienus died on the field. While one of Pompey's sons, Sextus, escaped, the war was effectively over. Caesar remained in the province until June before setting out for Rome, arriving in October of the same year, and celebrated an unseemly triumph over fellow Romans. By this point he had started preparations for war on the Parthians to avenge Crassus' death at Carrhae in 53 BC, with wide-ranging objectives that would take him into Dacia for three or more years. It was set to start on 18 March 44 BC.
== Dictatorship and assassination ==
=== Dictatorships and honours ===
Prior to Caesar's assumption of the title dictator perpetuo in February 44 BC, he had been appointed dictator some four times since his first dictatorship in 49 BC. After occupying Rome, he engineered this first appointment, largely to hold elections; after 11 days he resigned. The other dictatorships lasted for longer periods, up to a year, and by April 46 BC he was given a new dictatorship annually. The task he was assigned revived that of Sulla's dictatorship: rei publicae constituendae. These appointments, however, were not the source of legal power themselves; in the eyes of the literary sources, they were instead honours and titles which reflected Caesar's dominant position in the state, secured not by extraordinary magistracy or legal powers, but by personal status as victor over other Romans.
Through the period after Pharsalus, the Senate showered Caesar with honours, including the title praefectus moribus (lit. 'prefect of morals') which historically was associated with the censorial power to revise the Senate rolls. He was also granted power over war and peace, usurping a power traditionally held by the comitia centuriata. These powers attached to Caesar personally. Similarly extraordinary were a number of symbolic honours which saw Caesar's portrait placed on coins in Rome – the first for a living Roman – with special rights to wear royal dress, sit atop a golden chair in the Senate, and have his statues erected in public temples. The Roman calendar month Quintilis, in which he was born, was renamed Julius (now July). These were symbols of divine monarchy and, later, objects of resentment.
The decisions on the normal operation of the state – justice, legislation, administration, and public works – were concentrated into Caesar's person without regard for or even notice given to the traditional institutions of the republic. Caesar's domination over public affairs and his competitive instinct to preclude all others alienated the political class and led eventually to the conspiracy against his life.
=== Legislation ===
Caesar, as far as is attested in evidence, did not intend to restructure Roman society. Ernst Badian, writing in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, noted that although Caesar did implement a series of reforms, they did not touch on the core of the republican system: he "had no plans for basic social and constitutional reform" and that "the extraordinary honours heaped upon him... merely grafted him as an ill-fitting head on to the body of the traditional structure".
The most important of Caesar's reforms was to the calendar, which saw the abolition of the traditional republican lunisolar calendar and its replacement with a solar calendar now called the Julian calendar. He also increased the number of magistrates and senators (from 600 to 900) to better administer the empire and reward his supporters with offices. Colonies also were founded outside Italy – notably on the sites of Carthage and Corinth, which had both been destroyed during Rome's 2nd century BC conquests – to discharge Italy's population into the provinces and reduce unrest. The royal power of naming patricians was revived to benefit the families of his men and the permanent courts' jury pools were also altered to remove the tribuni aerarii, leaving only the equestrians and senators.
He also took further administrative actions to stabilise his rule and that of the state. Caesar reduced the size of the grain dole from 320,000 down to around 150,000 by tightening the qualifications; special bonuses were offered to families with many children to stall depopulation. Plans were drawn for the conduct of a census. Citizenship was extended to a number of communities in Cisalpine Gaul and to Cádiz. During the civil wars, Caesar had also instituted a novel debt repayment programme (no debts would be forgiven but they could be paid in kind), remitted rents up to a certain amount, and thrown games distributing food. Many of his enemies during the civil wars were pardoned – Caesar's clemency was exalted in his propaganda and temple works – with the intent to cultivate gratitude and draw a contrast between himself and the vengeful dictatorship of Sulla.
The building programmes, started prior to his expedition to Spain, continued, with the construction of the Forum of Caesar and the Temple of Venus Genetrix therein. Other public works, including an expansion of Ostia's port and a canal through the Corinthian Isthmus, were also planned. Very busy with this work, the heavy-handedness with which he ignored the Senate, magistrates, and those who came to visit him also alienated many in Rome.
The collegia, civic associations restored by Clodius in 58 BC, were again abolished. His actions to reward his supporters saw him allow his subordinates illegal triumphal processions and resign the consulship so that allies could take it up for the rest of the year. On the last day of 45 BC, when one of the succeeding consuls died, Caesar had an ally elected as replacement for a single day. Corruption on the part of his partisans was also overlooked to ensure their support; provincial cities and client kingdoms were extorted for favours to pay his bills.
=== Conspiracy and death ===
Attempts in January 44 BC to call Caesar rex (lit. 'king') – a title associated with arbitrary oppression against citizens – were shut down by two tribunes before a supportive crowd. Caesar, claiming that the two tribunes infringed on his honour by doing so, had them deposed from office and ejected from the Senate. The incident both undermined Caesar's original arguments for pursuing the civil war (protecting the tribunes) and angered a public which still revered the tribunes as protectors of popular freedom. Shortly before 15 February 44 BC, he assumed the dictatorship for life, putting an end to any hopes that his powers would be merely temporary. Transforming his dictatorship, even with a decadal appointment, into one for life clearly showed to all contemporaries that Caesar had no intention to restore a free republic and that no free republic could be restored so long as he was in power.
Just days after his assumption of the life dictatorship, he publicly rejected a diadem from Antony at celebrations for the Lupercalia. Interpretations of the episode vary: he may have been rejecting the diadem publicly only because the crowd was insufficiently supportive; he could have done it performatively to signal he was no monarch; alternatively, Antony could have acted on his own initiative. By this point, however, rumour was rife that Caesar – already wearing the dress of a monarch – sought a formal crown and the episode did little to reassure.
The plan to assassinate Caesar had started by the summer of 45 BC. An attempt to recruit Antony was made around that time, though he declined and gave Caesar no warning. By February 44 BC, there were some sixty conspirators. It is clear that by this time, the victorious Caesarian coalition from the civil war had broken apart. While most of the conspirators were former Pompeians, they were joined by a substantial number of Caesarians. Among their leaders were Gaius Trebonius (consul in 45), Decimus Brutus (consul designate for 42), as well as Cassius and Brutus (both praetors in 44 BC). Trebonius and Decimus had joined Caesar during the war while Brutus and Cassius had joined Pompey; other Caesarians involved included Servius Sulpicius Galba, Lucius Minucius Basilus, Lucius Tullius Cimber, and Gaius Servilius Casca. Many of the conspirators would have been candidates in the consular elections for 43 to 41 BC, likely dismayed by Caesar's sham elections in early 44 BC that produced advance results for the years 43–41 BC. Those electoral results came from the grace of the dictator and not that of the people; for the republican elite this was no substitute for actual popular support. Nor is it likely that the subordination of the normal magistrates to Caesar's masters of horse (Latin: magistri equitum) was appreciated.
Brutus, who claimed descent from the Lucius Junius Brutus who had driven out the kings and the Gaius Servilius Ahala who had freed Rome from incipient tyranny, was the main leader of the conspiracy. By late autumn 45 BC, graffiti and some public comments at Rome were condemning Caesar as a tyrant and insinuating the need for a Brutus to remove the dictator. The ancient sources, excepting Nicolaus of Damascus, are unanimous that this reflected a genuine turn in public opinion against Caesar. Popular indignation at Caesar was likely rooted in his debt policies (too friendly to lenders), use of lethal force to suppress protests for debt relief, his reduction in the grain dole, his abolition of the collegia restored by Clodius, his abolition of the poorest panel of jurors in the permanent courts, and his abolition of open elections which deprived the people of their ancient right of decision. A popular turn against Caesar is also observed with reports that the two deposed tribunes were written-in on ballots at Caesar's advance consular elections in place of Caesar's candidates. Whether the Romans thought they had a tradition of tyrannicide is unclear; Cicero wrote in private as if the duty to kill tyrants was already given, but he made no public speeches to that effect and there is little evidence that the public accepted the logic of preventive tyrannicide. The philosophical tradition of the Platonic Old Academy was also a factor driving Brutus to action due to its emphasis on a duty to free the state from tyranny.
While some news of the conspiracy did leak, Caesar refused to take precautions and rejected escort by a bodyguard. The date decided upon by the conspirators was 15 March, the Ides of March, three days before Caesar intended to leave for his Parthian campaign. News of his imminent departure forced the conspirators to move up their plans; the Senate meeting on the 15th would be the last before his departure. They had decided that a Senate meeting was the best place to frame the killing as political, rejecting the alternatives at games, elections, or on the road. That only the conspirators would be armed at the Senate meeting, per Dio, also would have been an advantage. The day, 15 March, was also symbolically important as it was the day on which consuls took office until the mid-2nd century BC.
Various stories purport that Caesar was on the cusp of not attending or otherwise being warned about the plot. Nevertheless, he attended the Senate meeting that day, held in the Curia of Pompey. Approached on his golden chair at the foot of the statue of Pompey, the conspirators attacked him with daggers. Whether he fell in silence, per Suetonius, or after reply to Brutus' appearance – kai su teknon? ("you too, child?") – is variantly recorded. He was stabbed at least twenty-three times and died at once.
=== Aftermath of the assassination ===
The assassins seized the Capitoline hill after killing the dictator. They then summoned a public meeting in the Forum where they were coldly received by the population. They were also unable to fully secure the city, as Lepidus – Caesar's lieutenant in the dictatorship – moved troops from the Tiber Island into the city proper. Antony, the consul who escaped the assassination, urged an illogical compromise position in the Senate: Caesar was not declared a tyrant and the conspirators were not punished. Caesar's funeral was then approved. The funeral saw Caesar's body move from the Regia, the official home of the pontifex maximus and formerly the palace of the kings, into the forum where it was then cremated. Antony inflamed the public against the assassins, which triggered mob violence that lasted for some months before the assassins were forced to flee the capital and Antony then finally acted to suppress it by force.
In 44 BC, there was a seven-day cometary outburst that the Romans believed to represent the deification of Caesar, giving it the name Caesar's Comet. On the site of his cremation, the Temple of Caesar was begun by the triumvirs in 42 BC at the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum. Only its altar now remains. The terms of the will were also read to the public: it gave a generous donative to the plebs at large and left as principal heir one Gaius Octavius, Caesar's great-nephew then at Apollonia, and adopted him in the will.
Resumption of the pre-existing republic proved impossible as various actors appealed in the aftermath of Caesar's death to liberty or to vengeance to mobilise huge armies that led to a series of civil wars. The first war was between Antony in 43 BC and the Senate (including senators of both Caesarian and Pompeian persuasion) which resulted in Octavian – Caesar's heir – exploiting the chaos to seize the consulship and join with Antony and Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate. After purging their political enemies in a series of proscriptions, the triumvirs secured the deification of Caesar – the Senate declared on 1 January 42 BC that Caesar would be placed among the Roman gods – and marched on the east where a second war saw the triumvirs defeat the tyrannicides in battle, resulting in a final death of the republican cause and a three-way division of much of the Roman world. By 31 BC, Caesar's heir had taken sole control of the empire, ejecting his triumviral rivals after two decades of civil war. Pretending to restore the republic, his masked autocracy was acceptable to the war-weary Romans and marked the establishment of a new Roman monarchy.
== Personal life ==
=== Health and physical appearance ===
Based on remarks by Plutarch (c. 46 – c. 120s AD), Caesar is sometimes thought to have suffered from epilepsy. Modern scholarship is sharply divided on the subject, and some scholars believe that he was plagued by malaria, particularly during the Sullan proscriptions of the 80s BC. Other scholars contend his epileptic seizures were due to a parasitic infection in the brain by a tapeworm.
Caesar had four documented episodes of what may have been complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had absence seizures in his youth. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer Suetonius, who was born after Caesar died. The claim of epilepsy is countered among some medical historians by a claim of hypoglycemia, which can cause epileptoid seizures.
A line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has sometimes been taken to mean that he was deaf in one ear: "Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf." No classical source mentions hearing impairment in connection with Caesar. The playwright may have been making metaphorical use of a passage in Plutarch that does not refer to deafness at all, but rather to a gesture Alexander of Macedon customarily made. By covering his ear, Alexander indicated that he had turned his attention from an accusation in order to hear the defence.
Francesco M. Galassi and Hutan Ashrafian suggest that Caesar's behavioural manifestations – headaches, vertigo, falls (possibly caused by muscle weakness due to nerve damage), sensory deficit, giddiness and insensibility – and syncopal episodes were the results of cerebrovascular episodes, not epilepsy. Pliny the Elder reports in his Natural History that Caesar's father and forefather died without apparent cause while putting on their shoes. These events can be more readily associated with cardiovascular complications from a stroke episode or lethal heart attack. Caesar possibly had a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease.
Suetonius (c. 69 – c. 122 AD) describes Caesar as "tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes". He adds that the balding Caesar was sensitive to teasing on the subject, and therefore had a combover. Suetonius reports that Caesar was thus especially pleased to be granted the honour of wearing a wreath at all times.
=== Name and family ===
==== The name Gaius Julius Caesar ====
Using the Latin alphabet of the period, which lacked the letters J and U, Caesar's name would be rendered GAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR; the form CAIVS is also attested, using the older Roman representation of G by C. The standard abbreviation was C. IVLIVS CÆSAR, reflecting the older spelling. (The letterform Æ is a ligature of the letters A and E, and is often used in Latin inscriptions to save space.)
In Classical Latin, it was pronounced [ˈɡaːi.ʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]. In the days of the late Roman Republic, many historical writings were done in Greek, a language most educated Romans studied. Young wealthy Roman boys were often taught by Greek slaves and sometimes sent to Athens for advanced training, as was Caesar's principal assassin, Brutus. In Greek, during Caesar's time, his family name was written Καίσαρ (Kaísar), reflecting its contemporary pronunciation. Thus, his name is pronounced in a similar way to the pronunciation of the German Kaiser [ˈkaɪzɐ] or Dutch keizer [ˈkɛizər].
In Vulgar Latin, the original diphthong [ae̯] first began to be pronounced as a simple long vowel [ɛː]. Then, the plosive /k/ before front vowels began, due to palatalization, to be pronounced as an affricate, hence renderings like [ˈtʃɛːzar] in Italian and [ˈtseːzaʁ] in German regional pronunciations of Latin, as well as the title of Tsar. With the evolution of the Romance languages, the affricate [ts] became a fricative [s] (thus, [ˈseːsar] and the like) in many regional pronunciations, including the French one, from which the modern English pronunciation is derived.
Caesar's cognomen itself became a title; it was promulgated by the Bible, which contains the famous verse "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". The title became, from the late first millennium, Kaiser in German and (through Old Church Slavic cěsarĭ) Tsar or Czar in the Slavic languages. The last Tsar in nominal power was Simeon II of Bulgaria, whose reign ended in 1946, but is still alive in 2026. This means that for approximately two thousand years, there was at least one head of state bearing his name. As a term for the highest ruler, the word Caesar constitutes one of the earliest, best attested and most widespread Latin loanwords in the Germanic languages, being found in the text corpora of Old High German (keisar), Old Saxon (kēsur), Old English (cāsere), Old Norse (keisari), Old Dutch (keisere) and (through Greek) Gothic (kaisar).
==== Posterity ====
Wives
First marriage to Cornelia, from 84 BC until her death in 69 BC
Second marriage to Pompeia, from 67 BC until he divorced her around 61 BC over the Bona Dea scandal
Third marriage to Calpurnia, from 59 BC until Caesar's death
Children
Julia, by Cornelia, born in 83 or 82 BC
Caesarion, by Cleopatra VII, born 47 BC, and killed at age 17 by Caesar's adopted son Octavianus.
Posthumously adopted: Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, his great-nephew by blood (grandson of Julia, his sister), who later became Emperor Augustus.
Suspected children
Some ancient sources refer to the possibility of the tyrannicide, Marcus Junius Brutus, being one of Julius Caesar's illegitimate children. Caesar, at the time Brutus was born, was 15. Most ancient historians were sceptical of this and "on the whole, scholars have rejected the possibility that Brutus was the love-child of Servilia and Caesar on the grounds of chronology".
Grandchildren
Grandchild from Julia and Pompey, dead at several days, unnamed.
Lovers
Cleopatra, mother of Caesarion
Servilia, mother of Brutus
Eunoë, queen of Mauretania and wife of Bogudes
=== Rumours of passive homosexuality ===
Roman society viewed the passive role during sexual activity, regardless of gender, to be a sign of submission or inferiority. Indeed, Suetonius says that in Caesar's Gallic triumph, his soldiers sang that, "Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar." According to Cicero, Bibulus, Gaius Memmius, and others – mainly Caesar's enemies – he had an affair with Nicomedes IV of Bithynia early in his career. The stories were repeated, referring to Caesar as the "Queen of Bithynia", by some Roman politicians as a way to humiliate him. Caesar himself denied the accusations repeatedly throughout his lifetime, and according to Cassius Dio, even under oath on one occasion.
This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents. Catullus wrote a poem suggesting that Caesar and his engineer Mamurra were lovers, but later apologised. Mark Antony charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours. Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavian as political slander. Octavian eventually became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus.
== Literary works ==
During his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin – even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. Only Caesar's war commentaries have survived. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Among his lost works are his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his "Anticato", a document attacking Cato in response to Cicero's eulogy. Poems by Julius Caesar are also mentioned in ancient sources.
=== Memoirs ===
The Commentarii de Bello Gallico, usually known in English as The Gallic Wars, seven books each covering one year of his campaigns in Gaul and southern Britain in the 50s BC, with the eighth book written by Aulus Hirtius on the last two years.
The Commentarii de Bello Civili (The Civil War), events of the Civil War from Caesar's perspective, until immediately after Pompey's death in Egypt.
Other works historically have been attributed to Caesar, but their authorship is in doubt:
De Bello Alexandrino (On the Alexandrine War), campaign in Alexandria;
De Bello Africo (On the African War), campaigns in North Africa; and
De Bello Hispaniensi (On the Hispanic War), campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula.
These narratives were written and published annually during or just after the actual campaigns, as a sort of "dispatches from the front". They were important in shaping Caesar's public image and enhancing his reputation when he was away from Rome for long periods. They may have been presented as public readings. As a model of clear and direct Latin style, The Gallic Wars traditionally has been studied by first- or second-year Latin students.
== Legacy ==
=== Historiography ===
The texts written by Caesar, an autobiography of the most important events of his public life, are the most complete primary source for the reconstruction of his biography. However, Caesar wrote those texts with his political career in mind. Julius Caesar is also considered one of the first historical figures to fold his message scrolls into a concertina form, which made them easier to read. The Roman emperor Augustus began a cult of personality of Caesar, which described Augustus as Caesar's political heir. The modern historiography is influenced by this tradition.
Many rulers in history became interested in the historiography of Caesar. Napoleon III wrote the scholarly work Histoire de Jules César, which was not finished. The second volume listed previous rulers interested in the topic. Charles VIII ordered a monk to prepare a translation of the Gallic Wars in 1480. Charles V ordered a topographic study in France, to place the Gallic Wars in context; which created forty high-quality maps of the conflict. The contemporary Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent catalogued the surviving editions of the Commentaries, and translated them to Turkish language. The French kings Henry IV and Louis XIII translated the first two commentaries and the last two respectively; Louis XIV re-translated the first one afterwards.
The remains of Caesar's altar are a pilgrimage site for visitors from across Italy and the world. Flowers and other items are left there daily and special commemorations take place on 15 March to commemorate Caesar's death.
=== Politics ===
Julius Caesar is seen as the main example of Caesarism, a form of political rule led by a charismatic strongman whose rule is based upon a cult of personality, whose rationale is the need to rule by force, establishing a violent social order, and being a regime involving prominence of the military in the government. Other people in history, such as the French Napoleon Bonaparte and the Italian Benito Mussolini, have defined themselves as Caesarists. Bonaparte did not focus only on Caesar's military career but also on his relation with the masses, a predecessor to populism. The word is also used in a pejorative manner by critics of this type of political rule.
=== Depictions ===
=== Battle record ===
== Chronology == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan_Diaz_(writer) | Hernan Diaz (writer) | Hernan Diaz (Spanish: [eɾˈnan ˈdi.as]; born 1973) is an Argentine and American writer. His 2023 novel, Trust, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His 2017 novel In the Distance was a finalist for the same Pulitzer Prize, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He also received a Whiting Award.
== Personal life ==
Diaz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he was two, his family moved to Sweden after the military coup. His family returned to Argentina after democracy was restored in 1983. Diaz was interested in writing at an early age, and even "pretended" to write, showing his parents his "stories." After obtaining a Licenciate degree in Literature (Licenciatura en Letras) in the University of Buenos Aires, Diaz moved to London to study an MA degree at King's College.
Diaz moved to New York in 1999 for additional studies. He received his PhD from New York University.
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
== Career ==
Diaz is the recipient of the John Updike award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, given to “a writer whose contributions to American literature have demonstrated consistent excellence." He has received fellowships from the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Ingmar Bergman Estate.
Diaz has published two novels, which have been published in more than 37 languages. His essays and short stories have been published in The Paris Review, Granta, Playboy, The Yale Review, and McSweeney's.
Borges, Between History and Eternity was published by Continuum on August 2, 2012. The book considers "key aspects of Borges's work — the reciprocal determinations of politics, philosophy and literature; the simultaneously confining and emancipating nature of language; and the incipient program for a literature of the Americas."
In the Distance was published on October 10, 2017 by Coffee House Press. Publishers Weekly, Feminist Press, PANK, and The Paris Review named it one of the top books of 2017, and Literary Hub named it one of "The 20 Best Novels of the Decade".
He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2022, and in 2019, he won a Whiting Award, which is provided "based on the criteria of early-career achievement and the promise of superior literary work to come."
Trust was published by Riverhead Books on May 3, 2022. It received the 2022 Kirkus Prize and 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. It was also named one of the "10 Best Books of 2022" by The Washington Post and The New York Times, and it was named one of the New York Times’s Best 100 Books of the 21st Century.
== Awards ==
In the Distance received the following accolades:
First Novelist Award (2018)
New American Voices Award (2018)
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist (2018)
Prix Page America Award (2018)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist (2018)
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Fiction (2018)
Trust received the following accolade:
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2023)
Kirkus Prize (2022)
Booker Prize longlist (2022)
== Publications ==
=== Novels ===
In the Distance (2017), ISBN 9781566894883
Trust (2022), ISBN 9780593420317
Ply (2026), ISBN 9780593719541
=== Nonfiction books ===
Borges, Between History and Eternity (2012), ISBN 9781441197795
=== Short stories ===
"The Wife of the Lion" (2018) in The Kenyon Review
"1,111 Emblems" (2018) in Playboy
"'I Am Going to Speak to You about Anxiety'" (2018) in Granta
"The Stay" (2018) in The Paris Review
"The World of Interiors" (2022) in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern
"The Generation" (2022) in The Atlantic
"Triptych" (2023) in Harper's Magazine
=== Essays ===
"On Making Oneself Less Unreadable" (2017) in The Paris Review
"If I Had a Sense of Beauty" (2017) in The Paris Review
"Monument" (2017) on Kadist
"On Joanna Walsh's Worlds from the Word's End" (2017) on Publishers Weekly
"Who Gets to Be a Mad Scientist?" (2018) in The Paris Review
"On Frankenstein, A Monster of a Book" (2018) in The Paris Review
"We Stigmatize Accents, But Language Belongs To Everyone" (2018) on PBS NewsHour
"A Year In Reading" (2018) on The Millions
"Tove Jansson's 'The Island'" (2019) in The Paris Review (translation)
"Tove Jansson's 'Once, At A Park'" (2019) in The Paris Review (translation)
"A Reading List On Loneliness" (2020) in Electric Literature
"The Heart of Fiction" (2021) in The Yale Review
"Contemporary Authors On Their Favorite New York City Novels" (2022) in The New York Times
"Let Me Tell You a True Story" (2023) on BookPage
"Read Your Way Through New York City: On Brooklyn Heights" (2025) in The New York Times |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo | Sarajevo | Sarajevo ( SARR-ə-YAY-voh) is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo Canton, containing the city of Sarajevo and nearby municipalities, is home to 413,593 inhabitants. Located within the greater Sarajevo valley of Bosnia, it is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of the Balkans, a region of Southeastern Europe.
Sarajevo is the political, financial, social, and cultural centre of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a prominent centre of culture in the Balkans. It exerts region-wide influence in entertainment, media, fashion, and the arts. Due to its long history of religious and cultural diversity, Sarajevo is sometimes called the "Jerusalem of Europe" or "Jerusalem of the Balkans". It is one of a few major European cities to have a mosque, Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox church, and synagogue within the same neighborhood. It is also home to the former Yugoslavia's first institution of tertiary education in the form of an Islamic polytechnic, today part of the University of Sarajevo.
Although there is evidence of human settlement in the area since prehistoric times, the modern city arose in the 15th century as an Ottoman stronghold when the Ottoman Empire extended into Europe. Sarajevo has gained international renown several times throughout its history. In 1914, Sarajevo was the site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a local Young Bosnia activist Gavrilo Princip, a murder that sparked World War I. This led to the end of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and the creation of the multicultural Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Balkans. Later, after World War II, the area was designated the capital of the communist Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, leading to rapid population growth and business expansion, with investment in infrastructure and economic development.
In 1984, Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, which marked a prosperous era for the city. However, after the start of the Yugoslav Wars, the city endured the longest siege of a capital city in modern history, lasting 1,425 days from April 1992 to February 1996, during the Bosnian War. With continued post-war reconstruction in its aftermath, Sarajevo is the fastest-growing city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The travel guide series Lonely Planet ranked Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world. In December 2009, it recommended Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010.
In 2011, Sarajevo was nominated as the 2014 European Capital of Culture. It was also selected with Istočno Sarajevo to host the 2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. In addition, in October 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a UNESCO Creative City for having placed culture at the center of its development strategies, and is also ranked as a UNESCO City of Film. In October 2024, National Geographic declared Sarajevo as the best world destination for 2025 according to its readers.
== Etymology ==
The name Sarajevo derives from the Turkish noun saray, meaning "palace" or "mansion" (from Persian sarāy, سرای, of the same meaning). Scholars disagree on the origin of the evo attached to the end. In Slavic languages, the addition of "-evo" may indicate a possessive noun, thereby making the name of Sarajevo 'city of the palace'.
One theory is that the name may have been derived from the Ottoman Turkish term saray ovası, first recorded in 1455, meaning "the plains around the palace" or simply "palace plains".
However, in his Dictionary of Turkish Loanwords, Abdulah Škaljić maintains that the evo ending is more likely to have come from the widespread Slavic suffix evo used to indicate place names, than from the Turkish ending ova. The first mention of the name Sarajevo was in a 1507 letter written by Firuz Bey. The official name during the 400 years of Ottoman rule was Saraybosna ("Palace of Bosnia"), which remains the city's name in Modern Turkish.
Sarajevo has had many nicknames. The earliest is Šeher, the term Isa-Beg Ishaković used to describe the town he was going to construct—which is Turkish for "city" (şehir), in turn coming from the Persian shahr (شهر, meaning "city"). As Sarajevo developed, numerous nicknames came from comparisons to other cities in the Islamic world, i.e. "Damascus of the North" and "European Jerusalem"; the latter being the most popular.
== Environment ==
=== Geography ===
Sarajevo is near the geometric center of the triangular-shaped Bosnia and Herzegovina and within the historical region of Bosnia. It is situated 518 m (1,699 ft) above sea level and lies in the Sarajevo valley, in the middle of the Dinaric Alps.
The valley was once an expansive, fertile, and green space, but considerable urban expansion and development took place following World War II. Forested hills and five major mountains surround the city. The highest of the surrounding peaks is Treskavica at 2,088 m (6,850 ft), followed by Bjelašnica mountain at 2,067 m (6,781 ft), Jahorina at 1,913 m (6,276 ft), Trebević at 1,627 m (5,338 ft), and Igman the shortest at 1,502 m (4,928 ft). The last four are also known as the Olympic Mountains of Sarajevo.
When the city hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics, venues were constructed at these mountains for many winter sports events. The city is developed within hilly terrain; some steeply inclined streets and residences perch on the hillsides.
The Miljacka river is one of the city's chief geographic features. It flows through the city from east through the center of Sarajevo to the west part of the city, where it eventually meets up with the Bosna river. Miljacka River is also known as "The Sarajevo River". Its source (Vrelo Miljacke) is 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the town of Pale at the foothills of Mount Jahorina, several kilometers to the east of Sarajevo center. The Bosna's source, Vrelo Bosne near Ilidža (west Sarajevo), is another notable natural landmark and a popular destination for Sarajevans and other tourists. Several smaller rivers and streams, such as Koševski Potok, also run through the city and its vicinity.
=== Cityscape ===
Sarajevo is close to the center of the triangular shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina in southeastern Europe. The Sarajevo city consists of four municipalities: Centar (Center), Novi Grad (New Town), Novo Sarajevo (New Sarajevo), and Stari Grad (Old Town).
The Metropolitan area was reduced in the 1990s after the war and the Dayton-imposed administrative division of the country, with several municipalities partitioned along the border of the newly recognized Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS), creating several new municipalities which together form the city of Istočno Sarajevo in the Republika Srpska: Istočna Ilidža, Istočno Novo Sarajevo, Istočni Stari Grad, Lukavica, Pale (RS-section), and Trnovo (RS-section), along with the municipality of Sokolac (which was not traditionally part of the Sarajevo area and was not partitioned).
The city has an urban area of 1,041.5 km2 (402.1 sq mi). Veliki Park (Great Park) is the largest green area in the center of Sarajevo. It is nestled between Titova, Koševo, Džidžikovac, Tina Ujevića and Trampina Streets and in the lower part there is a monument dedicated to the Children of Sarajevo.
=== Climate ===
Sarajevo has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) bordering on a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb). Sarajevo's climate exhibits four seasons and uniformly spread precipitation. The proximity of the Adriatic Sea moderates Sarajevo's climate somewhat, although the mountains to the south of the city greatly reduce this maritime influence. The average yearly temperature is 11.1 °C (52 °F), with January (0.6 °C (33.1 °F) on average) being the coldest month of the year and August (21.3 °C (70.3 °F) on average) the warmest.
The highest recorded temperature was 40.7 °C (105 °F) on 19 August 1946 and on 23 August 2008 (41.0), while the lowest recorded temperature was −26.2 °C (−15.2 °F) on 25 January 1942. On 13 August 2024, Sarajevo recorded a temperature of 39.7 °C (103.5 °F), the highest since 1946. On average, Sarajevo has seven days where the temperature exceeds 32 °C (89.6 °F) and four days where the temperature drops below −15 °C (5 °F) per year. The city typically experiences mildly cloudy skies, with an average yearly cloud cover of 45%.
The cloudiest month is December (75% average cloud cover), while the clearest is August (37%). Moderate precipitation occurs fairly consistently throughout the year, with an average 75 days of rainfall. Suitable climatic conditions have allowed winter sports to flourish in the region, as exemplified by the 1984 Winter Olympics that were held in Sarajevo. Average winds are 28–48 km/h (17–30 mph) and the city has 1,769 hours of sunshine.
=== Air quality ===
Air pollution is a major issue in Sarajevo. According to the 2016 World Health Organization's Ambient Air Pollution Database, the annual average PM2.5 concentration in 2010 was estimated to be 30 μg/m3 based on PM10 measurement, which is 3 times higher than recommended by WHO Air Quality Guidelines for the annual average PM2.5. There are no recent direct long-term PM2.5 measurements available in Sarajevo and only estimates can be made from PM10, which is less health-relevant than PM2.5. Real-time air quality data in the form of PM10, ozone, NO2, CO and SO2 by the Federal Hydrometeorological Institute Archived 13 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
== History ==
=== Ancient times ===
One of the earliest findings of settlement in the Sarajevo area is that of the Neolithic Butmir culture. The discoveries at Butmir were made on the grounds of the modern-day Sarajevo suburb Ilidža in 1893 by Austro-Hungarian authorities during the construction of an agricultural school. The area's richness in flint was attractive to Neolithic humans, and the settlement flourished. The settlement developed unique ceramics and pottery designs, which characterize the Butmir people as a unique culture, as described at the International Congress of Archaeologists and Anthropologists meeting in Sarajevo in 1894.
The next prominent culture in Sarajevo was the Illyrians. The ancient people, who considered most of the Western Balkans as their homeland, had several key settlements in the region, mostly around the river Miljacka and the Sarajevo valley. The Illyrians in the Sarajevo region belonged to the Daesitiates, the last Illyrian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina to resist Roman occupation. Their defeat by the Roman emperor Tiberius in 9 AD marks the start of Roman rule in the region. The Romans never built up the region of modern-day Bosnia, but the Roman colony of Aquae Sulphurae was near the top of present-day Ilidža, and was the most important settlement of the time. After the Romans, the Goths settled the area, followed by the Slavs in the 7th century.
=== Middle Ages ===
During the Middle Ages, Sarajevo was part of the Bosnian province of Vrhbosna near the traditional center of the Kingdom of Bosnia. Though a city named Vrhbosna existed, the exact settlement in Sarajevo at this time is debated. Various documents note a place called Tornik in the region, most likely in the area of the Marijin Dvor neighborhood. By all indications, Tornik was a very small marketplace surrounded by a proportionally small village and was not considered very important by Ragusan merchants.
Other scholars say that Vrhbosna was a major town in the wider area of modern-day Sarajevo. Papal documents say that in 1238, a cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul was built in the area. Disciples of the notable saints Cyril and Methodius stopped in the region, founding a church near Vrelo Bosne. Whether or not the town was somewhere in the area of modern-day Sarajevo, the documents attest to its and the region's importance. There was also a citadel Hodidjed north-east to the Old City, dating from around 1263 until it was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1429.
=== Ottoman era ===
Sarajevo was founded by the Ottoman Empire in the 1450s upon its conquest of the region, with 1461 used as the city's founding date. The first Ottoman governor of Bosnia, Isa-Beg Ishaković, transformed the cluster of villages into a city and state capital by building several key structures, including a mosque, a closed marketplace, a hamam, a caravansarai, a bridge, and of course the governor's palace ("Saray"), which gave the city its present name in conjunction with “evo”. The mosque was named "Careva Džamija" (the Emperor's Mosque) in honor of Sultan Mehmed II. With the improvements, Sarajevo quickly grew into the largest city in the region. By the 15th century the settlement was established as a city, named Bosna-Saraj, around the citadel in 1461.
Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century, and the invitation from the Ottoman Empire to resettle their population, Sephardic Jews arrived in Sarajevo, which over time would become a leading center of Sephardic culture and the Ladino language. Though relatively small in size, a Jewish quarter would develop over several blocks in Baščaršija.
Many local Christians converted to Islam at this time. To accommodate the new pilgrims on the road to Mecca, in 1541, Gazi Husrev-beg's quartermaster Vekil-Harrach built a pilgrim's mosque which it is still known to this day as the Hadžijska Mosque.
Under leaders such as the second governor Gazi Husrev-beg, Sarajevo grew at a rapid rate. Husrev-beg greatly shaped the physical city, as most of what is now the Old Town was built during his reign. Sarajevo became known for its large marketplace and numerous mosques, which by the middle of the 16th century numbered more than 100. At the peak of the empire, Sarajevo was the biggest and most important Ottoman city in the Balkans after Istanbul. By 1660, the population of Sarajevo was estimated to be over 80,000. By contrast, Belgrade in 1683 had 100,000, and Zagreb as late as 1851 had 14,000 people. As political conditions changed, Sarajevo became the site of warfare.
In 1697, during the Great Turkish War, a raid was led by Prince Eugene of Savoy of the Habsburg monarchy against the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Sarajevo and left it plague-infected and burned to the ground. After his men had looted thoroughly, they set the city on fire and destroyed nearly all of it in one day. Only a handful of neighborhoods, some mosques, and an Orthodox church were left standing. Numerous other fires weakened the city, which was later rebuilt but never fully recovered from the destruction. By 1807, it had only some 60,000 residents.
In the 1830s, several battles of the Bosnian uprising had taken place around the city. These had been led by Husein Gradaščević. Today, a major city street is named Zmaj od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia) in his honor. The rebellion failed and for several more decades, the Ottoman state remained in control of Bosnia.
The Ottoman Empire made Sarajevo an important administrative center by 1850. Baščaršija became the central commercial district and cultural center of the city in the 15th century when Isa-Beg Ishaković founded the town. The toponym Baščaršija derives from the Turkish language.
=== Austria-Hungary ===
Austria-Hungary's occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina came in 1878 as part of the Treaty of Berlin, and complete annexation followed in 1908, angering the Serbs. Sarajevo was industrialized by Austria-Hungary, who used the city as a testing area for new inventions such as tramways, which were established in 1885 before they were later installed in Vienna. Architects and engineers wanting to help rebuild Sarajevo as a modern European capital rushed to the city. A fire that burned down a large part of the central city area (čaršija) left more room for redevelopment. As a result, the city has a unique blend of the remaining Ottoman city market and contemporary Western architecture. Sarajevo also has some examples of Secession- and Pseudo-Moorish (Moorish Revival) styles that date from this period.
The Austro-Hungarian period was one of great development for the city, as the Western power brought its new acquisition up to the standards of the Victorian age. Various factories and other buildings were built at this time, and a large number of institutions were both Westernized and modernized. For the first time in history, Sarajevo's population began writing in Latin script.
For the first time in centuries, the city significantly expanded outside its traditional borders. Much of the city's contemporary central municipality (Centar) was constructed during this period.
Architecture in Sarajevo quickly developed into a wide range of styles and buildings. The Sacred Heart Cathedral, for example, was constructed using elements of neo-gothic and Romanesque architecture. The National Museum, Sarajevo brewery, and City Hall were also constructed during this period. Additionally, Austrian officials made Sarajevo the first city in this part of Europe to have a tramway.
Although the Bosnia Vilayet de jure remained part of the Ottoman Empire, it was de facto governed as an integral part of Austria-Hungary with the Ottomans having no say in its day-to-day governance. This lasted until 1908 when the territory was formally annexed and turned into a condominium, jointly controlled by both Austrian Cisleithania and Hungarian Transleithania.
The event that triggered World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, along with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb and self-declared Yugoslav, and member of Young Bosnia. This was followed by the Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, which resulted in two deaths and destruction of property.
In the ensuing war, however, most of the Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade, and Sarajevo largely escaped damage and destruction. Following the war, Bosnia was annexed into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Sarajevo became the capital of the Drina Province.
=== Yugoslavia ===
After World War I and pressure from the Royal Serbian Army, alongside rebelling Slavic nations in Austria-Hungary, Sarajevo became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Though it held some political significance as the center of first the Bosnian region and then the Drinska Banovina, the city was no longer a national capital and saw a decline in global influence.
During World War II, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's army was overrun by German and Italian forces. Following a German bombing campaign, Sarajevo was captured on 15 April 1941 by the 16th Motorized Infantry Division. The Axis powers created the Independent State of Croatia and included Sarajevo in its territory.
Immediately following the occupation, the main Sephardi Jewish synagogue, Il Kal Grande, was looted, burned, and destroyed by the Nazis. Within a matter of months, the centuries-old Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Sarajevo, comprising the vast majority of Bosnian Jewry, would be rounded up in the Old Synagogue (Stari hram) and deported to their deaths in Croatian concentration camps. Roughly 85% of Bosnia's Jewish population would perish at the hands of the Nazis and the Ustaše during the Holocaust in the region. The Sarajevo Haggadah was the most important artifact which survived this period, smuggled out of Sarajevo and saved from the Nazis and Ustaše by the chief librarian of the National Museum, Derviš Korkut.
On 12 October 1941, a group of 108 notable Bosniak citizens of Sarajevo signed the Resolution of Sarajevo Muslims by which they condemned the Genocide of Serbs organized by the Ustaše, made a distinction between the Bosniaks who participated in such persecutions and the rest of the Bosniak population, presented information about the persecutions of Bosniaks by the Ustaše, and requested security for all citizens of the country, regardless of their identity. During the summer of 1941, Ustaše militia periodically interned and executed groups of Sarajevo Serbs. In August 1941, they arrested about one hundred Serbs suspected of ties to the resistance armies, mostly church officials and members of the intelligentsia, and executed them or deported them to concentration camps. By mid-summer 1942, around 20,000 Serbs found refuge in Sarajevo from Ustaše terror.
The city was bombed by the Allies from 1943 to 1944. The Yugoslav Partisan movement was represented in the city. In the period February–May 1945, Maks Luburić set up a Ustaše headquarters in a building known as Villa Luburić and used it as a torture and execution place whose 323 victims were identified after the war. The resistance was led by Vladimir Perić Valter, who died while leading the liberation of the city on 6 April 1945.
After the war, Sarajevo was the capital of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Republic Government invested heavily in Sarajevo, building many new residential blocks in the municipalities of Novi Grad and Novo Sarajevo, while simultaneously developing the city's industry and transforming Sarajevo into a modern city. Sarajevo grew rapidly as it became an important regional industrial center in Yugoslavia. Between the end of the war and the end of Yugoslavia, the city grew from a population of 115,000 to more than 600,000 people. The Vraca Memorial Park, a monument for victims of World War II, was dedicated on 25 November, the "Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina" when the ZAVNOBIH held their first meeting in 1943.
A crowning moment of Sarajevo's time in Socialist Yugoslavia was the 1984 Winter Olympics. Sarajevo beat out Sapporo, Japan, and Falun/Gothenburg, Sweden, to host the Olympic Games. The games were followed by a tourism boom, making the 1980s one of the city's most prosperous decades.
=== Bosnian War ===
The Bosnian War for independence resulted in large-scale destruction and dramatic population shifts during the Siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996. Thousands of Sarajevans lost their lives under the constant bombardment and sniper shooting at civilians by the Serb forces during the siege, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Bosnian Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996.
When Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia and achieved United Nations recognition, Serbian leaders declared a new Serbian national state Republika Srpska (RS) which was carved out from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Army of Republika Srpska encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 18,000 stationed in the surrounding hills, from which they assaulted the city with artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine guns, multiple rocket launchers, rocket-launched aircraft bombs, and sniper rifles. From 2 May 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city. The Bosnian government defense forces inside the besieged city were poorly equipped and unable to break the siege.
During the siege, 11,541 people were killed, including over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children. The 1991 census indicates that before the siege, the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 525,980.
When the siege ended, the concrete scars caused by mortar shell explosions left marks that were filled with red resin. After the red resin was placed, it left floral patterns, which led to them being dubbed Sarajevo Roses. Division of the territory according to the Dayton Agreement resulted in a mass exodus in early 1996 of some 62,000 Sarajevo Serbs from the city and its suburbs, creating today's more monoethnic post-war city.
=== Present ===
Various modern buildings now occupy Sarajevo's skyline, most significantly the Bosmal City Center, ARIA Centar, Sarajevo City Center (all three by architect Sead Gološ) and the Avaz Twist Tower, which at the time of its building was the tallest skyscraper in former Yugoslavia.
In 2014, the city saw anti-government protests and riots and record rainfall that caused historic flooding. Recent years have seen population growth as well as increases in tourism.
The Sarajevo cable car, also known as the Trebević cable car, Sarajevo's key landmark during the 1984 Winter Olympics, was rebuilt in 2017 and reopened on 6 April 2018. The cable car runs from Sarajevo at Bistrik station to the slopes of Trebević at Vidikovac station.
== Administration ==
=== Largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina ===
Sarajevo is the capital of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its sub-entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as of the Sarajevo Canton. It is also the de jure capital of another entity, Republika Srpska. Each of these levels of government has its parliament or council, as well as judicial courts, in the city. All national institutions and foreign embassies are in Sarajevo.
Sarajevo is home to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the operational command of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Parliament office in Sarajevo was damaged heavily in the Bosnian War. Due to damage, the staff and documents were moved to a nearby ground-level office to resume work. In late 2006, reconstruction work started on Parliament and was finished in 2007. The cost of reconstruction was 80% funded by the Greek Government through the Hellenic Program of Balkans Reconstruction (ESOAV), and 20% by Bosnia and Herzegovina.
=== Municipalities and city government ===
The City of Sarajevo comprises four municipalities: Centar, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, and Stari Grad. Each operates their own municipal government, while united they form one city government with its constitution. The executive branch (Bosnian: Gradska uprava) consists of a mayor, with two deputies and a cabinet.
The legislative branch consists of the City Council, or Gradsko vijeće. The council has 28 members, including a council speaker, two deputies, and a secretary. Councilors are elected by the municipality in numbers roughly proportional to their population. The City Statute requires the city council to include at least six councilors from each constituent people and at least two from the ranks of Others.
Sarajevo's Municipalities are further split into "local communities" (Bosnian, Mjesne zajednice). Local communities have a small role in city government and are intended as a way for ordinary citizens to get involved in city government. They are based on key neighborhoods in the city.
== Economy ==
Sarajevo's large manufacturing, administrative, and tourism sectors make it the strongest economic region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo Canton generates almost 25% of the country's GDP. After years of war, Sarajevo's economy saw reconstruction and rehabilitation programs. The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened in Sarajevo in 1997 and the Sarajevo Stock Exchange began trading in 2002.
While Sarajevo had a large industrial base during its communist period, only a few pre-existing businesses have successfully adapted to the market economy. Sarajevo industries now include tobacco products, furniture, hosiery, automobiles, and communication equipment. Companies based in Sarajevo include BH Telecom, Bosnalijek, Energopetrol, Sarajevo Tobacco Factory, and Sarajevska pivara (Sarajevo Brewery).
In 2019, the total export for the Sarajevo Canton was worth about 1,427,496,000 KM. Most of Sarajevo's exports (20.55%) head to Germany, with Serbia and Croatia following behind at 12% respectively. The largest amount of imported goods comes from Croatia, at 20.95%. With a worth of total import of about 4,872,213,000 KM, the total import is almost 3.4 times the total export.
In 1981, Sarajevo's GDP per capita was 133% of the Yugoslav average. Gross pay in Sarajevo in March 2023 was KM 2,497 or €1,269, while net salary was KM 1,585 or €805, indicating stable growth.
== Tourism and recreation ==
Sarajevo has a wide tourist industry and a fast-expanding service sector thanks to the strong annual growth in tourist arrivals. Sarajevo also benefits from being both a summer and winter destination with continuity in its tourism throughout the year. The travel guide series, Lonely Planet named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world, and in December 2009, listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010.
In 2019, 733,259 tourists visited Sarajevo, giving 1,667,545 overnight stays, which was 20% more than in 2018. Sports-related tourism uses the legacy facilities of the 1984 Winter Olympics, especially the skiing facilities on the nearby mountains of Bjelašnica, Igman, Jahorina, Trebević and Treskavica.
Sarajevo's 600 years of history, influenced by both Western and Eastern empires, makes it a tourist attraction with splendid variations. The city has hosted travellers for centuries, because it was an important trading centre during the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires and because it was a natural stop for many routes between East and West. Examples of popular destinations in Sarajevo include the Vrelo Bosne park, the Sarajevo cathedral, and the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque. Tourism in Sarajevo is chiefly focused on historical, religious, and cultural sites and winter sports.
There are many parks throughout the city and on the outskirts. A popular activity among locals is street chess, usually played at Trg Oslobođenja - Alija Izetbegović. Veliki Park is the largest green area in the centre of Sarajevo. It is nestled between Titova, Koševo, Džidžikovac, Tina Ujevića and Trampina Streets and in the lower part, there is a monument dedicated to the Children of Sarajevo. Hastahana is a popular place to relax in the Austro-Hungarian neighborhood of Marijin Dvor. Goat's Bridge, locally known as Kozija Ćuprija, in the Miljacka Canyon is also a popular park destination along the Dariva walkway and river Miljacka. On 24 December 2012, a park hosting two brass sculptures resembling two mourning mothers was dedicated as the Friendship Park, commemorating over 45 years of friendship between Sarajevo and Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Sarajevo is also famous for its city lookouts; including an observation deck on the Avaz Twist Tower, Park Prinčeva restaurant, Vidikovac lookout (Mt. Trebević), Zmajevac lookout and Yellow/White fortresses lookouts (in Vratnik) as well as numerous other rooftops throughout the city (i.e. Alta Shopping Centre, ARIA Centar, Hotel Hecco Deluxe). A symbol of Sarajevo is the Trebević cable car which was reconstructed in 2018, also it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city taking visitors from the city centre to Mount Trebević.
There is also a UNESCO tentative monument, the Old Jewish Cemetery, an almost 500 years old site that is the second-largest Jewish sepulchral complex in Europe, the one in Prague being the largest. It is also one of the most significant memorial complexes in the world. It represents the eternal proof of the coexistence of two or more different confessions under different administrations and rules, and the proof of mutual respect and tolerance.
== Demographics ==
Thanks to steady but constant and stable growth after the war, today's built-up area includes not only previously mentioned urban municipalities but the urban part of Hadžići that is uninterruptedly connected to Ilidža, the westernmost part of the Sarajevo urban settlement, is inhabited by more than 419,000 people. It is noticeable that the fastest-growing municipalities are Novi Grad, one of the main ones and the most inhabited one where the population has increased by almost 4,000 people or 2.95% since the 2013 census, and Ilidža that has recorded an increase of almost 7% since 2013.
In June 2016, the final results of the 2013 census were published. According to the census, the population of the Sarajevo Canton was 413,593, with 55,181 residents in Centar, 118,553 in Novi Grad, 64,814 in Novo Sarajevo and 36,976 in Stari Grad.
The last official Yugoslav census took place in 1991 and recorded 527,049 people living in the city of Sarajevo (ten municipalities). In the settlement of Sarajevo proper, there were 454,319 inhabitants. The war displaced hundreds of thousands of people, a large majority of whom have not returned.
The war changed the ethnic and religious profile of the city. It had long been a multicultural city, and often went by the nickname of "Europe's Jerusalem". At the time of the 1991 census, 49.2 percent of the city's population of 527,049 were Bosniaks, 29.8 percent Serbs, 10.7 percent Yugoslavs, 6.6 percent Croats and 3.6 percent other ethnicities (Jews, Romas, etc.).
According to academic Fran Markowitz, there are several "administrative apparatuses and public pressures that push people who might prefer to identify as flexible, multiply constituted hybrids or with one of the now unnamed minority groups into one of the three Bosniac-Croat-Serb constituent nations". These include respondents being encouraged by census interviewers to identify as belonging to one of the three constituent peoples. Her analysis of marriage registration data shows, for instance, that 67 percent of people marrying in 2003 identified as Bosniak or Muslim, which is significantly lower than the 79.6 percent census figure from 2002 (unlike the census, where people respond to an interviewer, applicants to the marriage registry fill in the form themselves).
== Transportation ==
=== Roads and highways ===
Sarajevo's location in a valley between mountains makes it a compact city. Narrow city streets and a lack of parking areas restrict automobile traffic but allow better pedestrian and cyclist mobility. The two main roads are Titova Ulica (Street of Marshal Tito) and the east–west Zmaj od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia) highway (E761). Located roughly at the center of the country, Sarajevo is Bosnia's main intersection. The city is connected to all the other major cities by highway or national road like Zenica, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar, Goražde and Foča.
Tourists from Central Europe and elsewhere visiting Dalmatia driving via Budapest through Sarajevo also contribute to the traffic congestion in and around Sarajevo. The trans-European highway, Corridor Vc, runs through Sarajevo connecting it to Budapest in the north, and Ploče at the Adriatic Sea in the south. The highway is being built by the government and should cost 3.5 billion Euro. Up until March 2012, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina invested around 600 million euros in the A1. In 2014, the sections Sarajevo-Zenica and Sarajevo-Tarčin were completed including the Sarajevo Beltway ring road.
=== Tram, bus and trolleybus ===
Sarajevo's electric tramways, in operation since 1884 and electrified since 1895, are the oldest form of public transportation in the city. Sarajevo had the first full-time (dawn to dusk) tram line in Europe, and the second in the world. Opened on New Year's Day in 1885, it was the testing line for the tram in Vienna and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and operated by horses. Originally built to 760 mm (2 ft 5+15⁄16 in) Bosnian gauge, the present system in 1960 was upgraded to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge. The trams played a pivotal role in the growth of the city in the 20th century.
There are seven tramway lines supplemented by five trolleybus lines and numerous bus routes. The main railway station in Sarajevo is in the north-central area of the city. From there, the tracks head west before branching off in different directions, including to industrial zones in the city. Sarajevo is undergoing a major infrastructure renewal; many highways and streets are being repaved, the tram system is undergoing modernization, and new bridges and roads are under construction. In January 2021, the city bought 25 new BKM 433 trolleybuses. Tram track renovation lasted from August 2021 to September 2023. The city also bought 15 new Stadler Tango trams in September 2021. The first tram arrived in December 2023, while the rest are expected to arrive by the summer of 2024. An additional 10 new trams were bought, as well as 30 new buses.
=== Railway ===
The Sarajevo main railway station was built in 1882 for the narrow-gauge railway. After World War II, it was decided to replace the old station by a new functionalist building. The ceremonial completion of the station building took place in 1949. The station was electrified in 1967, as part of the early electrification program introduced in Bosnia up to 1969.
The Sarajevo–Ploče railway provides a connection to the Adriatic coast. It holds the distinction of being the first 25 kV AC-electrified country in the former Yugoslavia, followed by Croatia and Serbia. Once, the East Bosnian railway connected Sarajevo to Belgrade.
==== Metro plans ====
To solve traffic congestion in the city, Sarajevo-based architect Muzafer Osmanagić proposed a study called "Eco Energy 2010–2015", proposing a subway system underneath the bed of the river Miljacka. The first line of Metro Sarajevo would connect Baščaršija with Otoka. This line would cost some 150 million KM and be financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
=== Airport ===
Sarajevo International Airport (IATA: SJJ) is just a few kilometers southwest of the city and was voted Best European Airport With Under 1,000,000 Passengers at the 15th Annual ACI-Europe in Munich in 2005.
The first regular flights to Sarajevo using an airfield in the suburb of Butmir began in 1930 when the domestic airliner Aeroput opened a regular route linking Belgrade to Podgorica through Sarajevo. Later, Aeroput opened a route that linked Sarajevo with Split, Rijeka, and Dubrovnik, and in 1938, the first international flights were introduced when Aeroput extended the route Dubrovnik – Sarajevo – Zagreb to Vienna, Brno and Prague. The airfield in Butmir remained in use until 1969.
The need for a new airport in Sarajevo, with an asphalt-concrete runway, was acknowledged in the mid-1960s when JAT, the Yugoslav national carrier at that time, began acquiring jet planes. The construction of the airport began in 1966 at its present location, not far from the old one.
Sarajevo Airport opened on 2 June 1969 for domestic traffic. In 1970, Frankfurt became the first international destination served. Most of the time the airport was a 'feeder' airport where passengers embarked for flights to Zagreb and Belgrade on their way to international destinations. Over time, the traffic volume steadily grew from 70,000 to 600,000 passengers a year. Later, during the Bosnian War, the airport was used for UN flights and humanitarian relief. Since the Dayton Agreement in 1995, the airport retook its role as the main air portal to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2017, 957,971 passengers travelled through the airport, which was 61,4% of the total airport traffic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Plans for the extension of the passenger terminal, together with upgrading and expanding the taxiway and apron, started in the fall of 2012. The existing terminal was expanded by approximately 7,000 m2 (75,347 sq ft). The upgraded airport was directly linked to the commercial retail center Sarajevo Airport Center, making it easier for tourists and travelers to spend their time before flight boarding shopping and enjoying the many amenities that are offered. Between 2015 and 2018, the airport was upgraded for more than 25 million euros.
== International relations ==
=== Twin towns – sister cities ===
Sarajevo is twinned with:
=== Friendship ===
Sarajevo is befriended with:
== Communications and media ==
As the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo is the main center of the country's media. Most of the communications and media infrastructure was destroyed during the war but reconstruction monitored by the Office of the High Representative has helped to modernize the industry as a whole. For example, the Internet was first made available to the city in 1995.
Oslobođenje (Liberation), founded in 1943, is Sarajevo's longest-running continuously circulating newspaper and the only one to survive the war. However, this long-running and trusted newspaper has fallen behind Dnevni avaz (Daily Voice), founded in 1995, and Jutarnje Novine (Morning News) in circulation in Sarajevo. Other local periodicals include the Croatian newspaper Hrvatska riječ and the Bosnian magazine Start, as well as weekly newspapers Slobodna Bosna (Free Bosnia) and BH Dani (BH Days). Novi Plamen, a monthly magazine, is the most left-wing publication.
The Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) is Sarajevo's public television station and was created in 1945 under the umbrella of the Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT). It had its first television program aired in 1961, while continuous programming started in 1969. It is one of three main TV stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other stations based in the city include Hayat TV, O Kanal, OBN, TV Kantona Sarajevo and TV Alfa.
The headquarters of Al Jazeera Balkans is also in Sarajevo, with a broadcasting studio at the top of the ARIA Centar. The news channel covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro and the surrounding Balkan states.
Many small independent radio stations exist, including established stations such as Radio M, RSG Radio (Radio Old Town), Studentski eFM Radio, Radio 202 and Radio BIR. Radio Free Europe, as well as several American and Western European stations are available.
== Education ==
=== Higher education ===
Higher education has a long and rich tradition in Sarajevo. The first institution that can be classified as a tertiary educational institution was a school of Sufi philosophy established by Gazi Husrev-beg in 1537; numerous other religious schools have been established over time. In 1887, under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a Sharia Law School began a five-year program. In the 1940s, the University of Sarajevo became the city's first secular higher education institute, effectively building upon the foundations established by the Saraybosna Hanıka in 1537. In the 1950s, post-bachelor graduate degrees became available. Severely damaged during the war, it was recently rebuilt in partnership with more than 40 other universities.
There are also several universities in Sarajevo, including:
University of Sarajevo
Sarajevo School of Science and Technology
International University of Sarajevo
Sarajevo Graduate School of Business
International Burch University
=== Primary and secondary education ===
As of 2005, there are 46 elementary schools (Grades 1–9) and 33 high schools (Grades 10–13) in Sarajevo, including three schools for children with special needs.
There are also several international schools in Sarajevo, catering to the expatriate community; some of which are Sarajevo International School and the French International School of Sarajevo, established in 1998.
== Culture ==
Sarajevo has been home to many different religions for centuries, giving the city a range of diverse cultures. In the time of Ottoman occupation of Bosnia, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, and Sephardi Jews all shared the city while maintaining distinctive identities. They were joined during the brief occupation by Austria-Hungary by a smaller number of Germans, Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs and Ashkenazi Jews. By 1909, about 50% of the city's inhabitants were Muslim, 25% were Catholic, 15% were Orthodox, and 10% were Jewish.
Historically, Sarajevo has been home to several prominent Bosnian poets, scholars, philosophers, and writers. To list only a very few; Nobel Prize-winner Vladimir Prelog is from the city, as are the writer Zlatko Topčić and the poet Abdulah Sidran. Nobel Prize-winner Ivo Andrić attended high school in Sarajevo for two years. Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanović lives in the city.
The Sarajevo National Theatre is the oldest professional theater in Bosnia and Herzegovina, having been established in 1921. In 2019, Sarajevo was designated as a City of Film by UNESCO.
=== Museums ===
Sarajevo is rich in museums, including the Museum of Sarajevo, the Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Museum of Literature and Theatre Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (established in 1888) home to the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated manuscript and the oldest Sephardic Jewish document in the world issued in Barcelona around 1350, containing the traditional Jewish Haggadah, is on permanent display at the museum. It is the only remaining illustrated Sephardic Haggadah in the world. The National Museum also hosts year-round exhibitions about local, regional and international culture and history, and exhibits over 5,000 artifacts from Bosnia's history.
The Alija Izetbegović Museum was opened on 19 October 2007 and is in the old town fort, more specifically in the Vratnik Kapija towers Ploča and Širokac. The museum is a commemoration of the influence and body of work of Alija Izetbegović, the first president of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo is also home to the War Childhood Museum, an independent not-for-profit museum containing personal belongings from the war and showing stories behind them. In addition, in 2018, the museum won the Council of Europe Museum Prize award for best museum.
The city also hosts the Sarajevo National Theatre, established in 1921, and the Sarajevo Youth Theatre. Some other cultural institutions include the Center for Sarajevo Culture, Sarajevo City Library, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosniak Institute, a privately owned library and art collection focusing on Bosniak history.
Demolitions associated with the war, as well as reconstruction, destroyed several institutions and cultural or religious symbols including the Gazi Husrev-beg Library, the national library, the Sarajevo Oriental Institute, and a museum dedicated to the 1984 Winter Olympics. Consequently, the different levels of government established strong cultural protection laws and institutions. Bodies charged with cultural preservation in Sarajevo include the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina (and their Sarajevo Canton counterpart), and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
=== Music ===
Sarajevo is and has historically been one of the most important musical enclaves in the region. The Sarajevo school of pop rock developed in the city between 1961 and 1991. This type of music began with bands like Indexi, Kodeksi, and singer-songwriter Kemal Monteno. It continued into the 1980s, with bands such as Plavi orkestar, Crvena jabuka, and Divlje jagode, by most accounts, pioneering the regional rock and roll movement. Sarajevo was also the home and birthplace of arguably the most popular and influential Yugoslav rock band of all time, Bijelo Dugme, somewhat of a Bosnian parallel to the Rolling Stones, in both popularity and influence.
Sarajevo was also the home of a very notable post-punk urban subculture known as the New Primitives, which began during the early 1980s with the Baglama Band which was banned shortly after its first LP and was brought into the mainstream through bands such as Zabranjeno Pušenje and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, as well as the Top lista nadrealista radio, and later television show. Other notable bands considered to be part of this subculture are Bombaj Štampa. Besides and separately from the New Primitives, Sarajevo is the hometown to one of the most significant ex-Yugoslavian alternative industrial-noise bands, SCH.
Perhaps more importantly, Sarajevo in the late 19th and throughout the 20th century was home to a burgeoning and large center of Sevdalinka record-making and contributed greatly to bringing this historical genre of music to the mainstream, which had for many centuries been a staple of Bosnian culture. Songwriters and musicians such as Himzo Polovina, Safet Isović, Zaim Imamović, Zehra Deović, Halid Bešlić, Hanka Paldum, Nada Mamula, Meho Puzić and many more composed and wrote some of their most important pieces in the city.
Sarajevo also greatly influenced the pop scene of Yugoslavia with musicians like Zdravko Čolić, Kemal Monteno, Dino Merlin, Seid Memić Vajta, Hari Mata Hari, Mladen Vojičić Tifa, Željko Bebek and many more.
Many newer Sarajevo-based bands have also found a name and established themselves in Sarajevo, such as Regina who also had two albums out in Yugoslavia, and Letu Štuke, who actually formed their band in Yugoslavia with the famous Bosnian-American writer Aleksandar Hemon and got their real breakthrough later in the 2000s. Sarajevo is now home to an important and eclectic mix of new bands and independent musicians, which continue to thrive with the ever-increasing number of festivals, creative showcases, and concerts around the country. The city is also home to the region's largest jazz festival, the Jazz Fest Sarajevo.
American heavy metal band Savatage, released a song entitled "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" on their 1995 album Dead Winter Dead, which was about a cello player playing a forgotten Christmas carol in war-torn Sarajevo. The song was later re-released by the same band under the name Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their 1996 debut album Christmas Eve and Other Stories, which the song gave them instant success.
=== Festivals ===
Sarajevo is internationally renowned for its eclectic and diverse selection of over 50 annual festivals. The Sarajevo Film Festival was established in 1995 during the Bosnian War and has become the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe. It has been hosted at the National Theater, with screenings at the Open-air theater Metalac and the Bosnian Cultural Center, all in downtown Sarajevo. The MESS International Festival is an experimental theatre festival and the oldest living theatre festival in the Balkans. The annual Sarajevo Youth Film Festival showcases feature, animated and short films from around the world and is the premier student film festival in the Balkans. The Sarajevo Winter Festival, Jazz Fest Sarajevo and Sarajevo International Music Festival are well-known, as is the Baščaršija Nights festival, a month-long showcase of local culture, music, and dance.
The first incarnation of the Sarajevo Film Festival was hosted in still-warring Sarajevo in 1995, and has now progressed into being the biggest and most significant festival in Southeast Europe. A talent campus is also held during the duration of the festival, with lecturers speaking on behalf of world cinematography and holding workshops for film students from across Southeast Europe.
The Jazz Fest Sarajevo is the region's largest and most diverse of its kind. The festival takes place at the Bosnian Cultural Center (aka "Main Stage"), just down the street from the SFF, at the Sarajevo Youth Stage Theater (aka "Strange Fruits Stage"), at the Dom Vojske Federacije (aka "Solo Stage"), and at the CDA (aka "Groove Stage").
=== Sports ===
Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. Yugoslavia won one medal, a silver in men's giant slalom awarded to Jure Franko. Many of the Olympic facilities survived the war or were reconstructed, including the Zetra Olympic Hall and Asim Ferhatović Stadium. In an attempt to bring back some of Sarajevo's Olympic glory, the original Olympic luge and bobsled tracks are being repaired, due to the efforts of both the Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina and local sports enthusiasts.
After co-hosting the Southeast Europe Friendship games, Sarajevo was awarded the 2009 Special Olympic winter games, but canceled these plans. The ice arena for the 1984 Olympics, Zetra Stadium, was used during the war as a temporary hospital and, later, for housing NATO troops of the IFOR.
In 2011, Sarajevo was the host city of the 51st World Military Skiing Championship with over 350 participants from 23 different nations. This was the first international event of such standing since the 1984 Olympics.
Football is popular in Sarajevo; the city hosts FK Sarajevo and FK Željezničar, which both compete in European and international cups and tournaments and have a very large trophy cabinet in the former Yugoslavia as well as independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other notable football clubs include Olimpik, SAŠK and Slavija. One of only three stadiums in Bosnia and Herzegovina that has the UEFA category 3 is the Grbavica Stadium, the home stadium of Željezničar.
Another popular sport is basketball; the basketball club KK Bosna won the European Championship in 1979 as well as many Yugoslav and Bosnian national championships, making it one of the greatest basketball clubs in the former Yugoslavia. The chess club, Bosna Sarajevo, has been a championship team since the 1980s and is the third-ranked chess club in Europe, having won four consecutive European championships in the nineties. Handball club RK Bosna also competes in the European Champions League and is considered one of the most well-organized handball clubs in Southeast Europe with a very large fan base and excellent national, as well as international results.
Sarajevo often holds international events and competitions in sports such as tennis and kickboxing.
The popularity of tennis has been picking up in recent years. Since 2003, BH Telecom Indoors has been an annual tennis tournament in Sarajevo.
Since 2007, the Sarajevo Half Marathon has been organized every year in late September. Giro di Sarajevo is also a run in the city with over 2,200 cyclists taking part in 2015.
In mountaineering, the local chapter of the HPS is HPD "Bjelašnica", which had 216 members in 1936 under the Josip Fleger presidency. At the time, it had a ski section. Membership rose to 234 in 1937, and Ante Martinović was elected its president. Membership fell to 230 in 1938, with Josip Fleger again president.
In February 2019, Sarajevo and East Sarajevo hosted the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOWF). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Couric | Katie Couric | Katherine Anne Couric ( KURR-ik; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, Wake Up Call. Since 2016, she has hosted the podcast Next Question with Katie Couric.
Couric has been a television host at all of the Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career she was an assignment editor for CNN. She worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014. She was the first solo female anchor of a major network (CBS) evening news program. From 2013 to 2017, she was Yahoo's Global News Anchor. In 2021, she appeared as a guest host for the game show Jeopardy!, the first woman to host the flagship American version of the show in its history.
In addition to her roles in television news, Couric hosted Katie, a syndicated daytime talk show produced by Disney–ABC Domestic Television from September 2012 to June 2014. Some of her most important presenting roles include co-host of Today, anchor of the CBS Evening News, and as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. Couric's 2011 book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, was a New York Times bestseller. In 2004, Couric was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
== Early life and career ==
Katherine Anne Couric was born in Arlington, Virginia, the daughter of Elinor Tullie (née Hene), a homemaker and part-time writer, and John Martin Couric Jr., a public relations executive and news editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the United Press in Washington, D.C. Her mother was Jewish, and converted to Presbyterianism before the marriage. Couric's maternal grandparents, Bert Hene and Clara L. Frohsin, were the children of Jewish emigrants from Germany. Couric's father had French, English, Scottish, and German ancestry. She was raised Presbyterian. In a report for Today, she traced her patrilineal ancestry back to a French orphan who immigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century, and became a broker in the cotton business.
Couric attended Arlington Public Schools: Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Middle School, and Yorktown High School, and was a cheerleader. As a high school student, she was an intern at Washington, D.C. all-news radio station WAVA. She enrolled at her father's alma mater, the University of Virginia, in 1975, and was a Delta Delta Delta sorority sister. Couric served in several positions at UVA's daily newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. During her fourth year at UVA, Couric was chosen to live as Senior Resident of The Lawn, the heart of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village. She graduated in 1979, with a bachelor's degree in American Studies.
== Career ==
=== Television career ===
==== Career beginnings ====
Couric's first job in 1979 was at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., later joining CNN as an assignment editor. Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as a general-assignment reporter for the then-CBS affiliate WTVJ in Miami, Florida.
During the following two years, she reported for WRC-TV, the NBC owned- and -operated station in Washington, D.C., work which earned her an Associated Press award and an Emmy.
==== NBC ====
Couric joined NBC News in 1989 as Deputy Pentagon Correspondent. From 1989 to 1991, Couric was an anchor substitute. She filled in for Bryant Gumbel as host of Today; Jane Pauley and Deborah Norville as co-anchor of Today; Boyd Matson, Garrick Utley, Mary Alice Williams, and Maria Shriver as co-host of Sunday Today; Chris Wallace, Garrick Utley and Tim Russert as anchor of Meet The Press, Scott Simon, Mike Schneider, Jack Ford, Jackie Nespral, Giselle Fernandez and Jodi Applegate as co-host of Weekend Today; Connie Chung, Bob Jamieson, John Palmer, Norville, Faith Daniels, Margaret Larson, Ann Curry, and Linda Vester as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise. She also subbed for Daniels, Norville, and John Palmer as the news anchor on Today.
Couric returned to NBC to co-host the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies with Mike Tirico, and to provide additional Winter Olympic coverage and athlete interviews. During the opening ceremony she suggested, erroneously, that the Dutch use their skates as a normal mode of transportation during wintertime, prompting criticism and bemusement from the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands and others. Couric apologized that her intended compliment did not "come out" as intended, which the Embassy accepted, and invited her to the Netherlands for a tour.
===== Today (1991–2006) =====
In 1989, Couric joined Today as national political correspondent, becoming a substitute co-host in February 1991, when Norville went on maternity leave. Norville did not return and Couric became permanent co-anchor on April 5, 1991. In 1994, she became co-anchor of Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric—an evening time weekly TV newsmagazine with Tom Brokaw—which was later terminated and folded into part of Dateline NBC, where her reports appeared regularly and she was named the anchor. She remained at Today and NBC News for fifteen years until May 31, 2006, when she announced that she would be going to CBS to anchor CBS Evening News, becoming the first solo female anchor of the "Big Three" weekday nightly news broadcasts.
While at NBC, Couric occasionally filled in for Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News. From 1989 to 1993, Couric also filled in for Connie Chung, Maria Shriver and for Garrick Utley and later Brian Williams and John Seigenthaler on the Weekend Edition of NBC Nightly News. In addition, during her time on Today, she served as a host of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for 14 years from 1991 to 2005. On June 17, 1997, Couric asked the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward about the Clinton "Chinagate" scandal: "Are members of the media, do you think, Bob, too scandal-obsessed, looking for something at every corner?"
Couric hosted or worked on a number of news specials, like Everybody's Business: America's Children in 1995. Similar entertainment specials were Legend to Legend Night: A Celebrity Cavalcade in 1993, and Harry Potter: Behind the Magic in 2001. Couric has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. She has broadcast with Bob Costas, beginning with the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Couric has interviewed many international political figures and celebrities, including presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and First Lady Barbara Bush. John F. Kennedy Jr. gave Couric his first and last interviews.
Couric has won multiple television reporting awards throughout her career, including the Peabody Award for her series Confronting Colon Cancer. Couric has also interviewed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (her first television interview), Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and Laura Bush.
On May 28, 2008, Couric made a return visit to Today, almost two years to the day after leaving back on May 31, 2006. She made this appearance alongside her evening counterparts, NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams & ABC World News' Charles Gibson, to promote an organization called Stand Up to Cancer and raise cancer awareness on all three major television networks; ABC, CBS & NBC. Couric, Gibson and Williams made appearances together on all three major network morning shows, first on CBS's Early Show, then on NBC's Today and finally on ABC's Good Morning America.
Couric returned for a week-long stint as co-host of Today in January 2017 to mark Matt Lauer's 20th anniversary as anchor of the program.
==== Move to CBS News ====
===== CBS Evening News (2006–2011) =====
Couric announced on April 5, 2006, that she would be leaving Today. CBS confirmed later the same day that Couric would become the new anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News. Couric would also contribute to 60 Minutes and anchor prime-time news specials for CBS. Couric earned US$15 million per year while at CBS, a salary that made her the highest paid journalist in the world, a salary similar to Barbara Walters' at ABC. She made her first broadcast as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on September 5, 2006.
CBS heavily promoted Couric's arrival at the network, hoping to revive the evening news format, but there were suggestions that it backfired. Although there was much interest during her first week as anchor, CBS Evening News remained a distant third in viewership, behind ABC World News and NBC Nightly News. While Couric's ratings improved over her predecessor, Bob Schieffer, ABC's Charles Gibson widened World News' lead over Evening News.
Couric also announced CBS News's official projection for the 2008 United States Presidential Election.
The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric won the 2008 and 2009 Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast. In 2009, Couric was awarded the Emmy Governor's Award for her broadcasting career.
She has interviewed presidents, cabinet members, celebrities, and business executives around the world, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Former President George W. Bush, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, John Edwards just after the announcement that his then-wife Elizabeth's cancer had returned, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Norah Jones and Michael J. Fox.
Couric led CBS News' coverage of the 2006 midterm elections, the 2008 Presidential election and conventions, and 2010 midterm elections. Couric was the first network anchor on the ground in Port au Prince after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. After the BP oil spill, Couric anchored from the Gulf Coast weekly and brought much attention to the disaster. She reported from Cairo's Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. In April 2011, she led CBS News' coverage from London for the Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton.
Couric was the only solo female evening news anchor in the United States, until December 21, 2009, when Diane Sawyer succeeded the retiring Charles Gibson for ABC World News. Couric and Sawyer were previous rivals as the hosts of Today and Good Morning America, respectively.
In early 2011, Couric announced that she would be leaving her anchor post at CBS Evening News when her contract expired. Couric made her final broadcast in the CBS Evening News chair on Thursday, May 19, 2011.
===== 60 Minutes (2006–2011) =====
Couric was a 60 Minutes correspondent and contributed eight to ten stories a year for the program. She was the first to interview pilot Chesley Sullenberger after the "Miracle on the Hudson" airplane landing. She also interviewed Valerie Plame, Robert Gates and Michelle Rhee for the program.
===== Palin interviews (2008) =====
The Sarah Palin interviews with Katie Couric were a series of interviews Couric taped with 2008 U.S. Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. The interviews were repeatedly broadcast on television before the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Couric received the Walter Cronkite Award for Journalism Excellence for the interviews. Steve Schmidt, McCain's senior campaign strategist and advisor, later reflected on the interview, saying "I think it was the most consequential interview from a negative perspective that a candidate for national office has gone through..."
===== CBS Reports (2009–2011) =====
Couric was the lead reporter for two CBS Reports series, which aired across all CBS News platforms. The first series, "CBS Reports: Children of the Recession", highlighted the pain suffered by the youngest of the then ongoing Great Recession's victims. The series won the Columbia School of Journalism's Alfred DuPont Award for Excellence in Journalism. The second series, which aired in early 2010, was "CBS Reports: Where America Stands", which featured veteran CBS News correspondents reporting on major issues facing the United States in the decade ahead with research by the CBS News Polling Unit.
===== @katiecouric (2009–2011) =====
Couric hosted a weekly, one-hour interview program on CBSNews.com. Her first guest was Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck. Subsequent interviews included former U.S. vice president Al Gore, actor Hugh Jackman, recording artist Shakira, First Lady Michelle Obama, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, singer Justin Bieber, actress Jane Lynch, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, actor Daniel Radcliffe, Bill Gates, former White House Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, national Tea Party movement leader Michael Johns, football player Drew Brees, and Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell.
==== Return to ABC News ====
===== ABC News (2011–2013) =====
From 2011 to 2013, Couric was a special correspondent for ABC News, a role she has incorporated into her talk show. Her first appearance on the network was a Sarah Jessica Parker interview on Nightline. Couric co-anchored coverage of the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, alongside Diane Sawyer, Christiane Amanpour, Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Vargas, George Stephanopoulos, and Robin Roberts. Couric was hosting Today on NBC at the time of the attacks, and led CBS News's coverage of the fifth anniversary. Couric also guest co-hosted The View and Live! with Regis and Kelly. Couric interviewed Lady Gaga in primetime on Thanksgiving as part of A Very Gaga Thanksgiving. In November 2011, Couric hosted a special primetime ABC news program highlighting Regis Philbin's retirement, after Philbin's 25-year tenure at ABC.
Similar to colleague Barbara Walters, Couric anchors specials for the network and for the newsmagazine 20/20. While she contributes to the news program all throughout the year, in 2011, Couric created her newly annual special The Year with Katie Couric, which is a program that marks the end of the year and covers some of the biggest newsmakers and news events of that year. This is a collaboration with People magazine, which also reflects events in the world of news, sports, politics, and major headlines that helped shape the world. This is very similar to that of Walters's iconic Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People, a year end program that marks the end of the year and acknowledges the people that had the most impact on the year at hand with interviews on their perspective of the year. As part of the special, Couric interviews fellow members of the media that can provide some insight on some events that occurred.
From April 2 to 6, 2012, Couric substituted for co-anchor Robin Roberts on ABC's Good Morning America, her first stint at hosting a morning news show since leaving Today.
===== Katie (2012–2014) =====
On June 6, 2011, ABC announced that Couric had signed a record US$40-million contract, and would begin hosting a daytime talk show for its Disney-ABC Domestic Television arm that would debut in September 2012; Couric would also contribute to ABC News programming. On August 22, 2011, it was announced that Couric's talk show would be called Katie. Katie is the second web show that Couric has been affiliated with, the first being @katiecouric on the CBS Evening News. The first episode aired on September 10, 2012.
Couric has incorporated her affiliation with the ABC News Division with her ABC Daytime show by having news colleagues Christiane Amanpour, Deborah Roberts, Mike Boettcher, Matt Gutman, Richard Besser, Marci Gonzalez, Jim Avila, Dan Abrams, Josh Elliott, Brian Ross, ABC News weather anchors Sam Champion and Ginger Zee, as well as ABC World News anchors Diane Sawyer and David Muir correspond on Katie for important news events. On the domestic end of her affiliation, Couric has had as guests The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan of Live! with Kelly and Michael, as well as some cast members of the soap opera General Hospital.
Disney-ABC Domestic Television renewed Katie for a second season starting in fall 2013. However, in October 2013, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Katie was close to cancellation because of a low Q Score, low ratings, and a reported disdain of her core female audience. The syndicated show averaged a 1.7 household rating during its first season and a 1.8 in the 2013–14 season. In December 2013, Disney–ABC Domestic Television announced that Katie had been canceled. The last show was taped on June 12, 2014 and the series finale aired on July 30, 2014.
=== New media ===
==== Yahoo! News (2014–2017) ====
In November 2013, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer announced she had hired Couric as Global Anchor of Yahoo! News. Couric debuted in the new role on January 13, 2014, in an interview with former United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. She later interviewed United States Secretary of State John Kerry.
In March 2015, in an effort to collaborate and to consolidate their news pools, Yahoo News and ABC News has expanded their partnership to include specials and features, with Couric and other Yahoo editors to appear in daily segments on Good Morning America. The extended partnership secured Couric as having a spot in the ABC News division, as a special contributor.
In her book Going There, Couric admitted to editing a 2016 interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The edits included removing portions of Ginsburg's statements that were critical of NFL protestors kneeling during the national anthem. Couric stated that her intent was to "protect" Ginsburg from her potentially unpopular comments as they were "unworthy of a crusader for equality".
In June 2017, after Verizon purchased Yahoo! and combined it into Oath, Couric decided to end her contract at Yahoo! News, preferring to work with them on a "project basis" only, while she continues to expand her own production company.
==== Katie Couric Media (2017–present) ====
In 2017, Couric founded her own media company, Katie Couric Media. The company produces her newsletter, Wake Up Call and along with iHeartMedia, her weekly podcast, Next Question.
=== Other work ===
In a media crossover to animated film, Couric was the voice of news-reporter "Katie Current" in the US version of the film Shark Tale. She has also made cameo appearances in Austin Powers in Goldmember (as a Georgia State Prison guard) and an episode of General Hospital (as a journalist pretending to be a doctor: a storyline she helped create). She guest-starred as herself on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown in 1992 and in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace in late 2002, and made a cameo appearance on a Pawn Stars episode. On May 12, 2003, she traded places for a day with Tonight Show host Jay Leno. Couric also co-hosted NBC's live coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1991 until 2005. She received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 2005. Couric delivered the graduation speech at her alma mater University of Virginia on May 20, 2012, at Randolph-Macon College on June 1, 2013, and at Princeton University on June 1, 2009. She also works with Carmen Marc Valvo to help publicize the deadliness, yet preventability, of colorectal cancer. On May 16, 2010, Couric received an honorary doctor of science degree for her efforts in raising awareness of colorectal cancer and for her commitment to advancing medical research from Case Western Reserve University, and later gave the university's 2010 convocation keynote address. In 2016, she starred as herself in Sully to recreate the 60 Minutes interview for the film.
In 2011, she gave the university commencement speech at Boston University and was awarded another doctoral degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. She has also hosted a Sesame Street special, "When Families Grieve." The special, which aired on PBS on April 14, 2010, dealt with the issues that children go through when a parent dies. On February 6, 2011, Couric guest-starred on the post-Super Bowl episode of Glee, playing herself interviewing Sue Sylvester after the cheerleading team lost the championship. Sylvester sarcastically referred to Couric as "Diane Sawyer" during the segment.
Couric is the author of two children's books and a non-fiction collection of essays. Her children's books The Brand New Kid (2000) and The Blue Ribbon Day (2004) were illustrated by Marjorie Priceman and published by Doubleday. The Brand New Kid topped the New York Times best seller list for children's picture books, and was adapted into a 2006 musical by Melanie Marnich and Michael Friedman. Couric's third book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, was published by Random House in 2011. The book is a collection of essays compiled over the past year by Couric; contributors include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Queen Rania of Jordan, and former Today Show colleague Matt Lauer. Couric said that a 2010 convocation keynote address she gave inspired her to write the book. To this end, all profits of the book will be donated to Scholarship America.
In December 2013, Couric ran a segment on the HPV vaccine which critics accused of being too sympathetic to the scientifically unsupported claims that this vaccine was dangerous. For example, Seth Mnookin accused her broadcast of employing false balance. In addition, Alexandra Sifferlin, of Time magazine, compared Couric to Jenny McCarthy, a well-known anti-vaccine celebrity. On December 10, 2013, a week after the original segment was aired, Couric posted an article on The Huffington Post responding to this criticism, in which she stated:
I felt it was a subject well worth exploring. Following the show, and in fact before it even aired, there was criticism that the program was too anti-vaccine and anti-science, and in retrospect, some of that criticism was valid. We simply spent too much time on the serious adverse events that have been reported in very rare cases following the vaccine. More emphasis should have been given to the safety and efficacy of the HPV vaccines.
Throughout the 2010s, Couric served as executive producer on several films. In 2014, Couric was an executive producer and narrator for the documentary Fed Up, examining the food industry and obesity in the United States. In 2016, Couric was an executive producer and narrator for the documentary Under the Gun, examining gun violence and gun control in the United States. The documentary was criticized for having an eight-second pause for "dramatic effect" inserted instead of the answer given to a question Couric posed to a gun-rights group in Virginia. Couric posted a response on the documentary's website stating, "I take responsibility for a decision that misrepresented an exchange I had with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL)", and she included a transcript of the response she received. Later that year, the VCDL filed a defamation lawsuit for $12 million against Couric and the film's director, Stephanie Soechtig, for continuing to promote and distribute the film without correcting the pause. The lawsuit was dismissed after a Virginia judge determined that the film scene was neither false nor defamatory. In 2015 Couric founded Katie Couric Media, a film production company which has partnered with National Geographic to produce several documentaries. The first of these, Gender Revolution, premiered in 2017. She was also an executive producer of Flint, a 2017 Lifetime drama about the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. In 2018, Couric hosted a docudrama series titled America Inside Out with Katie Couric, which was telecast on the National Geographic Channel.
Couric is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of
the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
In 2019, she served as executive producer on Netflix's true crime miniseries Unbelievable.
Couric signed on to serve as a substitute host of Jeopardy! in January 2021 following the death of Alex Trebek. Her episodes aired from March 8 to March 19.
== Public image ==
Couric has been dubbed "America's Sweetheart," largely due to her co-anchor role for 15 years on The Today Show. On May 12, 2003, Couric guest-hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of a swap campaign, and had 45 percent more viewers than on other nights. She has been the only guest host used by Jay Leno on either The Tonight Show or his short-lived The Jay Leno Show. Leno filled in for her on Today that same day. CNN and the New York Daily News noted that instead of using Leno's regular solid desk, "workers cut away the front of her desk to expose her legs while she interviewed American Idol judge Simon Cowell and Austin Powers star Mike Myers".
== Personal life and charitable work ==
=== Family and relationships ===
Couric married attorney John Paul "Jay" Monahan III on June 10, 1989. She gave birth to their first daughter, Elinor Tully "Ellie" Monahan, in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 1991; their second daughter, Caroline "Carrie" was born in New York City on January 5, 1996. Her husband died of colorectal cancer in 1998 at the age of 42. In September 2013, she became engaged to financier John Molner after a two-year relationship. Couric married Molner in a small, private ceremony at her home in The Hamptons on June 21, 2014. The two star in the online cooking series Full Plate with Katie & John, appearing on the Sur La Table website.
Her sister Emily Couric, a Virginia Democratic state senator, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54 on October 18, 2001. Couric gave a eulogy at the funeral. She pointed out that it irritated Emily when people asked her if she was Katie Couric's sister. She told the mourners, "I just want you to know I will always be proud to say 'I am Emily Couric's sister'." Couric has two other siblings, Clara Couric Batchelor and John M. Couric III.
During a January 15, 2021 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Couric revealed that she is distantly related to William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States.
=== Cancer and advocacy ===
On September 28, 2022, Couric revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer on June 21 of that year after a routine screening. She underwent surgery for the disease in July and began radiation treatment on September 7.
Couric had become a spokeswoman for colon cancer awareness ever since her first husband had died from the disease. She underwent a colonoscopy on-air in March 2000, and, according to a study published in 2003 in Archives of Internal Medicine, may have inspired many others to get checked as well: "Katie Couric's televised colon cancer awareness campaign was temporarily associated with an increase in colonoscopy use in two different data sets. This illustrates the possibility that a well-known individual can draw attention and support to worthwhile causes." On October 7, 2005, as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Couric broadcast her own mammogram on the Today show, in the hopes of recreating the "Couric Effect" around the issue of breast cancer. She also was very active in the National Hockey League's Hockey Fights Cancer campaign, appearing in some public service announcements and doing voice-overs for several others.
Couric was the honored guest at the 2004 Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation fall gala. As the Guest of Honor for the inaugural American Cancer Society Discovery Ball, Couric was recognized for her leadership in increasing cancer awareness and screening. In 2011, Couric became the Honorary National Chair of the National Parkinson Foundation's Moving Day campaign, a grassroots campaign to spotlight Parkinson's disease awareness on a national level. Couric's father died in 2011 at age 90 from complications due to Parkinson's disease.
In November 2023, Couric, alongside Jean Trebek (widow of Alex Trebek), launched "The Alex Trebek Fund" in partnership with Stand Up to Cancer, to support scientists working on improving screening and treatment options for pancreatic cancer. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrek#Accolades | Shrek#Accolades | Shrek is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig. It is the first in the Shrek film series, and stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. In the film, an embittered ogre named Shrek (voiced by Myers) finds his home in the swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures banished by the obsessive ruler Lord Farquaad (Lithgow). With the help of Donkey (Murphy), Shrek makes a pact with Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona (Diaz) in exchange for regaining control of his swamp.
After purchasing the rights to Steig's book in 1991, Steven Spielberg sought to produce a traditionally-animated film adaptation, but John H. Williams convinced him to bring the project to the newly founded DreamWorks Pictures in 1994. Jeffrey Katzenberg, along with Williams and Aron Warner, began development on Shrek in 1995, immediately following the studio's purchase of the rights from Spielberg. Chris Farley was cast as the voice for the title character, recording most of the required dialogue, but died in 1997 before his work on the film was finished; Myers was hired to replace him, and gave Shrek his characteristic Scottish accent. The film was initially intended to be created using motion capture, but after poor test results, the studio hired Pacific Data Images to complete the final computer animation. Shrek parodies other fairy tale adaptations, primarily animated Disney films.
Shrek premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood on April 22, 2001, and was later shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, making it the first animated film since Picha's The Missing Link (1980) to be chosen as main competition at the festival. The film was theatrically released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States on May 18, 2001, and grossed over $492 million worldwide, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001. It was widely praised by critics for its animation, voice performances, soundtrack, writing and humor, which they noted catered to both adults and children. Shrek was named one of the top 10 films of 2001 by the American Film Institute, the first animated film to be listed, and won numerous accolades including the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
The film's major success helped establish DreamWorks Animation as a competitor to Pixar in feature film computer animation. Three sequels have been released—Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010)—along with two spin-off films—Puss in Boots (2011) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)—with other productions, notably Shrek 5, in development. It is also regarded as one of the most influential animated films of the 2000s and one of the greatest animated films ever made. The United States Library of Congress selected Shrek for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020, becoming the first animated film of the 21st century to be preserved.
== Plot ==
Shrek is an asocial ogre who loves the solitude of his swamp and enjoys fending off mobs and intruders. One day, his life is interrupted after he inadvertently saves a talkative Donkey from some soldiers, prompting Donkey to forcibly stay with him. Donkey is one of many fairy tale creatures that are being exiled by the dwarfish Lord Farquaad of Duloc to beautify his land. However, the creatures inadvertently end up in the swamp. Angered by the intrusion, Shrek resolves to visit Farquaad and demand that he move the creatures elsewhere, reluctantly allowing Donkey to accompany him as he is the only one who knows where Duloc is.
Meanwhile, Farquaad is presented with the Magic Mirror, who tells him that he must marry a princess in order to become a king. Presented with three options, Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who is imprisoned in a castle guarded by a Dragon. Unwilling to rescue Fiona himself, he organizes a tournament in which the winner will receive the "privilege" of performing the task on his behalf. When Shrek and Donkey arrive at Duloc, Farquaad announces that whoever kills Shrek will win the tournament; however, Shrek and Donkey defeat Farquaad's knights with relative ease. Amused, Farquaad proclaims Shrek his champion instead, and agrees to relocate the fairy tale creatures in exchange for Shrek rescuing Fiona.
Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and the Dragon attacks them. Shrek locates Fiona, who is bewildered by his lack of romanticism; they flee the castle after rescuing Donkey from the Dragon, who is revealed to be female and has fallen in love with him. When Shrek removes his helmet and reveals he is an ogre, Fiona stubbornly refuses to go to Duloc, demanding Farquaad arrive in person to save her, but Shrek carries Fiona against her will. That night, after setting up camp, and with Fiona alone in a cave, Shrek admits to Donkey that he is asocial because he grew frustrated over being constantly judged for his appearance. Fiona overhears this and becomes kinder to Shrek. The next day, Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men harass the three, but Fiona easily defeats them in physical combat. Shrek becomes impressed with Fiona, and they begin to fall in love.
When the trio nears Duloc, Fiona takes shelter in a windmill for the evening. Donkey enters alone and discovers that Fiona has transformed into an ogress. She explains that during her childhood, she was cursed to transform into an ogress at night but retain her human form during the day. She tells Donkey that only "true love's first kiss" will break the spell and allow her to "take love's true form". Meanwhile, Shrek is about to confess his feelings to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona referring to herself as an "ugly beast". Thinking that she is talking about him, Shrek angrily leaves and returns the next morning with Farquaad. Confused and hurt by Shrek's abrupt hostility, Fiona reluctantly accepts Farquaad's marriage proposal and requests that they be married that day before sunset. Shrek dismisses Donkey and returns to his now vacated swamp, but quickly realizes that he feels miserable without Fiona. Donkey returns and lectures Shrek for jumping to conclusions and reveals that Fiona was not referring to him as an "ugly beast", although Donkey does not reveal Fiona's secret to Shrek. The two reconcile, and Donkey summons the Dragon, whom he had reunited with earlier in the day. Shrek and Donkey ride Dragon to Duloc so they can stop the wedding.
Shrek interrupts the ceremony just before it ends and expresses his feelings for Fiona. The sun sets, and Fiona transforms into an ogress in front of everyone. Disgusted and enraged, Farquaad orders Shrek to be executed and Fiona re-imprisoned, while he declares himself king. The two are saved when the Dragon, ridden by Donkey, breaks in and devours Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona kiss, and Fiona's curse is broken; though she remains an ogress, Shrek reassures her that he still finds her beautiful. They marry in the swamp with the fairy tale creatures in attendance, then leave for their honeymoon.
== Voice cast ==
== Production ==
=== Development ===
At the time DreamWorks Pictures was founded, producer John H. Williams got hold of the book from his children and when he brought it to DreamWorks, it caught CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's attention and the studio decided to make it into a film. Recounting the inspiration of making the film, Williams said: Every development deal starts with a pitch and my pitch came from my then kindergartner, in collaboration with his pre-school brother. Upon our second reading of Shrek, the kindergartner started quoting large segments of the book pretending he could read them. Even as an adult, I thought Shrek was outrageous, irreverent, iconoclastic, gross, and just a lot of fun. He was a great movie character in search of a movie.
After buying the rights to the film, Katzenberg quickly put it in active development in November 1995. Steven Spielberg had thought about making a traditionally animated film adaptation of the book before, when he bought the rights to the book in 1991 before the founding of DreamWorks, where Bill Murray would play Shrek and Steve Martin would play Donkey. In the beginning of production, co-director Andrew Adamson refused to be intimidated by Katzenberg and had an argument with him about how much the film should appeal to adults. Katzenberg wanted both audiences, but he deemed some of Adamson's ideas, such as adding sexual jokes and Guns N' Roses music to the soundtrack, to be too outrageous. Adamson and Kelly Asbury joined in 1997 to co-direct the film. However, Asbury left a year later for work on the 2002 film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and was replaced with story artist Vicky Jenson, although Asbury would later co-direct the sequel. Both Adamson and Jenson decided to work on the film in half, so the crew could at least know whom to go to with specific detail questions about the film's sequences; "We both ended up doing a lot of everything," Adamson said. "We're both kinda control freaks, and we both wanted to do everything."
Some early sketches of Shrek's house were done between 1996 and 1997 using Photoshop, with the sketches showing Shrek first living in a garbage dump near a human village called Wart Creek. It was also thought at one time that he would live with his parents and keep rotting fish in his bedroom. Donkey was modeled after Pericles (born 1994; died 2025; also known as Perry), a real miniature donkey from Barron Park in Palo Alto, California. Raman Hui, supervising animator of Shrek, stated that Fiona "wasn't based on any real person" and he did many different sketches for her. He had done over 100 sculptures of Fiona before the directors chose the final design. In early development, the art directors visited Hearst Castle, Stratford upon Avon, and Dordogne for inspiration. Art Director Douglas Rogers visited a magnolia plantation in Charleston, South Carolina, as inspiration for Shrek's swamp. Planned characters not used in the film include Goldilocks and Sleeping Beauty.
=== Writing ===
The screenplay was written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the picture book by William Steig. The way Steig upended fairy tale conventions in the original book by making an ogre the protagonist formed the basis for the movie being a parody of fairy tales. Elliott and Rossio began writing for the film in 1997 and worked on the project for two years. Elliott and Rossio were also credited as co-producers for the film. They centered the four main characters' personalities on maladaptive responses to self-esteem issues; as the DreamWorks story crew developed the plot, their personalities remained the same, ensuring the "thematic unity" of the story was preserved. When the studio leaned towards Shrek being a kind person shunned for being an ogre, they pushed for Shrek to remain a "misanthropic anti-hero."
=== Casting ===
Nicolas Cage was initially offered the role of Shrek but he turned it down because he did not want to look like an ogre. In 2013, Cage explained: "When you're drawn, in a way it says more about how children are going to see you than anything else, and I so care about that." Alternately, Ian Bagg auditioned for the role but was rejected.
Chris Farley was initially hired to voice Shrek, and he had recorded nearly all of the dialogue for the character, but died before completing the project. According to David Spade, Farley only had 5 days of voice work left to perform; Farley's brother John was asked if he would come in and finish the remaining lines, but he refused. A story reel featuring a sample of Farley's recorded dialogue was leaked to the public in August 2015. Katzenberg pitched the film to Mike Myers at the premiere of Saving Private Ryan (1998), after hearing the pitch he thought that Shrek was the "worst fucking title" he ever heard. DreamWorks then re-cast the voice role to Myers, who insisted on a complete script rewrite, to leave no traces of Farley's version of Shrek. According to Myers, he wanted to voice the character "for two reasons: I wanted the opportunity to work with Jeffrey Katzenberg; and [the book is] a great story about accepting yourself for who you are."
After Myers had completed providing the voice for the character over the course of 1999 and the film was well into production, a rough cut of the movie was shown to him in February 2000. Myers asked to re-record all of his lines with a Scottish accent, similar to that his mother used when she told him bedtime stories and also used for his roles in other films, such as So I Married an Axe Murderer and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. According to the DVD commentary, he had also tried using a Lothar of the Hill People accent and a Canadian accent. After hearing the alternative, Katzenberg agreed to redo scenes in the film, saying, "It was so good we took $4M worth of animation out and did it again." Myers disputed the cost, saying "it didn't cost the studio 'millions of dollars'," as rumored. "What it meant is instead of me going in for ten sessions, I went in for twenty sessions. I got paid the same." Because of Myers voicing the character, more ideas began to come. There were clearer story points, fresher gags and comedy bits. "I got a letter from Spielberg thanking me so much for caring about the character," Myers said. "And he said the Scottish accent had improved the movie."
Another person planned to voice a character in the film was Janeane Garofalo, who was set to star alongside Farley as Princess Fiona. However, she was fired from the project for unexplained reasons. Years later, Garofalo stated "I was never told why [I was fired]. I assume because I sound like a man sometimes? I don't know why. Nobody told me ... But, you know, the movie didn't do anything, so who cares?"
=== Animation ===
Shrek was originally set up to be a live-action animation hybrid with background plate miniature sets and the main characters composited into the scene as motion-captured computer graphics, using an ExpertVision Hires Falcon 10 camera system to capture and apply realistic human movement to the characters. Softimage was used, as well as Mental Ray. A sizable crew was hired to run a test, and after a year and a half of R & D, the test was finally screened in May 1997. The results were not satisfactory, with Katzenberg stating "It looked terrible, it didn't work, it wasn't funny, and we didn't like it." The animation, known as Shrek – I Feel Good Animation Test, was not released publicly until 2023 when it was posted by production designer Barry E. Jackson on his YouTube channel. The studio then turned to its production partners at Pacific Data Images (PDI), who began production with the studio in 1998 and helped Shrek get to its final, computer-animated look. At this time, Antz was still in production at the studio and effects supervisor Ken Bielenberg was asked by Aron Warner "to start development for Shrek". Similar to previous PDI films, PDI used its own proprietary software (like the Fluid Animation System) for its animated movies. For some elements, however, it also took advantage of some of the powerhouse animation software on the market. This is particularly true with Maya, which PDI used for most of its dynamic cloth animation and for the hair of Fiona and Farquaad.
"We did a lot of work on character and set-up, and then kept changing the set up while we were doing the animation," Hui noted. "In Antz, we had a facial system that gave us all the facial muscles under the skin. In Shrek, we applied that to whole body. So, if you pay attention to Shrek when he talks, you see that when he opens his jaw, he forms a double chin, because we have the fat and the muscles underneath. That kind of detail took us a long time to get right." One of the most difficult parts of creating the film was making Donkey's fur flow smoothly so that it did not look like that of a Chia Pet. This fell into the hands of the surfacing animators, who used flow controls within a complex shader to provide the fur with many attributes (ability to change directions, lie flat, swirl, etc.). It was then the job of the visual effects group, led by Ken Bielenberg, to make the fur react to environment conditions. Once the technology was mastered, it could be applied to many aspects of the movie, including grass, moss, beards, eyebrows, and even threads on Shrek's tunic. Making human hair realistic was different from Donkey's fur, requiring a separate rendering system and much attention from the lighting and visual effects teams.
Shrek has 31 sequences, with 1,288 total shots. Aron Warner said that the creators "envisioned a magical environment that you could immerse yourself into". Shrek includes 36 separate in-film locations to make the world of the film, which DreamWorks claimed was more than any previous computer-animated feature. In-film locations were finalized and, as demonstrated by past DreamWorks animated movies, color and mood was of the utmost importance. The animation was completed in 2000.
=== Music ===
Shrek is the third DreamWorks animated film (and the only film in the Shrek series) to have Harry Gregson-Williams team up with John Powell to compose the score following Antz (1998) and Chicken Run (2000). Powell was left out to compose scores for later Shrek films with Gregson-Williams due to a conflict. The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios by Nick Wollage and Slamm Andrews, with the latter mixing it at Media Ventures and Patricia Sullivan-Fourstar handling mastering.
Shrek introduced a new element to give the film a unique feel. The film used pop music and other oldies to make the story more forward. Covers of songs like "On the Road Again" and "Try a Little Tenderness" were integrated in the film's score. The band Smash Mouth's song "All Star" gained massive popularity after its original release two years earlier, due to its usage in the film's opening credits. The filmmakers for Shrek had originally used the song as a placeholder for the opening credits and intended to replace it with an original composition by Matt Mahaffey’s band Self that would mimic the feel of "All Star", named "Stay Home". However, DreamWorks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg suggested for them to use "All Star" over the sequence instead, with Stay Home ultimately playing over the credits sequence instead. As the film was about to be completed, Katzenberg suggested to the filmmakers to redo the film's ending to "go out with a big laugh"; instead of ending the film with just a storybook closing over Shrek and Fiona as they ride off into the sunset, they decided to add a cover of The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" by Smash Mouth and show all the fairytale creatures in the film.
Although Rufus Wainwright's version of the song "Hallelujah" appeared in the soundtrack album, it was John Cale's version that appeared in the film; in a radio interview, Rufus Wainwright suggested that his version of "Hallelujah" did not appear in the film due to the "glass ceiling" he was hitting because of his sexuality. An alternative explanation is that, although the filmmakers wanted Cale's version for the film, licensing issues prevented its use in the soundtrack album, because Wainwright was an artist for DreamWorks but Cale was not.
The film's 1996 animation test, made public in 2023, used the song "I Got You (I Feel Good)".
== Release ==
=== Marketing ===
In 2000, IMAX released CyberWorld onto its branded large-screen theaters. It was a compilation film that featured stereoscopic conversions of various animated shorts and sequences, including the bar sequence in Antz. DreamWorks was so impressed by the technology used for the sequence's "stereoscopic translation", that the studio and IMAX decided to plan a big-screen 3D version of Shrek. The film would have been re-released during the Christmas season of 2001, or the following summer, after its conventional 2D release. The re-release would have also included new sequences and an alternate ending. Plans for this was dropped due to "creative changes" instituted by DreamWorks and resulted in a loss of $1.18 million, down from IMAX's profit of $3.24 million.
Radio Disney was told not to allow any ads for the film to air on the station, stating, "Due to recent initiatives with The Walt Disney Company, we are being asked not to align ourselves promotionally with this new release Shrek. Stations may accept spot dollars only in individual markets." The restriction was later relaxed to allow ads for the film's soundtrack album onto the network.
On May 7, 2001, Burger King began promotions for the film, giving out a selection of nine exclusive Candy Caddies based on the Shrek characters, in Big Kids Meal and Kids Meal orders. Ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins also ran an 8-week promotion of the film, selling products such as Shrek's Hot Sludge Sundae, a combination of Oreo Cookies 'n Cream ice cream, hot fudge, crushed chocolate cookies, whipped cream and squiggly gummy worms, and Shrek Freeze Frame Cake, featuring an image of Shrek and Donkey framed by sunflowers. This was to support the film's DVD/VHS release.
=== Home media ===
Shrek was released by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on November 2, 2001. It surpassed Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace's short-lived record for being the fastest-selling DVD title of all time, selling 2.5 million copies within the first three days of release. Another 4.5 million copies were sold on VHS in the same timespan, making it the biggest opening weekend in retail video since The Lion King in 1995. Both releases included Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party, a 3-minute musical short film, that takes up right after Shrek's ending, with film's characters performing a medley of modern pop songs. As for the DVD release, this two-disc set features a fullscreen format on the first disc and a widescreen format on the second disc, with the latter featuring a DTS audio track.
Coincidentally, the film was released on video the same day that Pixar's Monsters, Inc. hit theaters. Since videos were traditionally released on Tuesdays, Disney's executives did not receive this well, saying that the move "seemed like an underhanded attempt to siphon off some of their film's steam". DreamWorks responded that it "simply shifted the release to a Friday to make it more of an event and predicted that it and other studios would do so more frequently with important films." Monsters, Inc. earned that weekend more than $62 million, breaking the record for an animated film, while Shrek's video release made more than $100 million, and eventually became the biggest selling DVD at the time with over 5.5 million sales. This broke the record previously held by Gladiator, another DreamWorks film. Shrek generated more than $420 million in revenue for DreamWorks on DVD and VHS, and has sold more than 21 million copies of the 23 million shipped by January 2002. Worldwide, more than 10 million Shrek DVDs have been sold by that point.
In February 2006, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to all live-action films DreamWorks had released between 1997 and 2005, following Viacom's $1.6 billion acquisition of the company's live-action film assets and television assets. Additionally, Paramount signed a six-year distribution agreement for past and future DreamWorks Animation films, with DreamWorks Animation having spun off into a separate company from the live-action division in 2004. On August 16, 2010, Paramount Home Entertainment released a 10 film box set titled the "DreamWorks Animation Ultimate Box Set", which included Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and 7 other DreamWorks Animation films. A 3D version of the film was released on Blu-ray 3D by Paramount Home Entertainment on December 1, 2010, along with its sequels, and a regular 2D Blu-ray boxset of the series was released six days later.
On December 31, 2012, DreamWorks Animation's distribution agreement with Paramount officially ended, and in July 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced they had reacquired the distribution rights to all of their films from Paramount, transferring these rights to their new distribution partner 20th Century Fox. On April 28, 2016, DreamWorks Animation was purchased by NBCUniversal for $3.8 billion. In commemoration of the film's 20th anniversary, an Ultra HD Blu-ray edition was released on May 11, 2021, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Shrek opened on around 6,000 screens across 3,587 theaters, at that point the second highest number of locations in history behind only Mission: Impossible 2. Eleven locations screened the film digitally, the first time that DreamWorks had shown one of its films in this format. The film earned $11.6 million on its first day and $42.3 million on its opening weekend, topping the box office for the weekend and averaging $11,805 from 3,587 theaters. In its second weekend, due to the Memorial Day Weekend holiday, the film gained 0.3 percent to $42.5 million and $55.2 million over the four-day weekend, resulting in an overall 30 percent gain. Despite this, the film finished in second place behind Pearl Harbor and had an average of $15,240 from expanding to 3,623 sites. In its third weekend, the film retreated 34 percent to $28.2 million for a $7,695 average from expanding to 3,661 theaters. By mid-June 2001, Shrek became the top-grossing movie of the year domestically, defeating The Mummy Returns. This achievement would last until that December when it was beaten by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The film closed on December 6, 2001, after grossing $267.7 million domestically, along with $216.7 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $484.4 million. Produced on a $60 million budget, the film was a huge box office smash and is the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001.
Shrek became the highest-grossing animated film ever to be released in Australia, passing the mark set by The Lion King in 1994. In the United Kingdom, Shrek regained the top spot at the British box office after being beaten out the previous week by Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, earning a $20.3 million since its opening in the UK.
=== Critical response ===
In addition to being an instant box office success, Shrek received wide critical acclaim. 88% of 212 professional reviews of the film on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While simultaneously embracing and subverting fairy tales, the irreverent Shrek also manages to tweak Disney's nose, provide a moral message to children, and offer viewers a funny, fast-paced ride." Metacritic assigned Shrek a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert praised the film, giving it four stars out of a possible four and describing it as "jolly and wicked, filled with sly in-jokes and yet somehow possessing a heart". USA Today's Susan Wloszczyna praised Eddie Murphy's performance, stating it "gives the comic performance of his career, aided by sensational digital artistry, as he brays for the slightly neurotic motormouth". Richard Schickel of Time also enjoyed Murphy's role, stating "No one has ever made a funnier jackass of himself than Murphy." Peter Rainer of New York magazine liked the script, also stating "The animation, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, is often on the same wriggly, giggly level as the script, although the more "human" characters, such as Princess Fiona and Lord Farquaad, are less interesting than the animals and creatures—a common pitfall in animated films of all types." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "Shrek is a world-class charmer that could even seduce the academy when it hands out the first official animation Oscar next year." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Shrek is not a guilty pleasure for sophisticated movie-goers; it is, purely and simply, a pleasure." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote "The witty, fractured fairy tale Shrek has a solid base of clever writing." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A−, saying "A kind of palace coup, a shout of defiance, and a coming of age for DreamWorks." Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel wrote "It's a pleasure to be able to report that the movie both captures and expands upon the book's playful spirit of deconstruction."
Steven Rosen of The Denver Post wrote "DreamWorks Pictures again proves a name to trust for imaginative, funny animated movies that delight kids and adults equally." Susan Stark of The Detroit News gave the film four out of four stars, saying "Swift, sweet, irreverent, rangy and as spirited in the writing and voice work as it is splendid in design." Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News gave the film four out of four stars, saying "The brilliance of the voice work, script, direction and animation all serve to make Shrek an adorable, infectious work of true sophistication." Rene Rodriguez gave the film three out of four stars, calling it "a gleefully fractured fairy tale that never becomes cynical or crass". Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times gave the film four out of five stars, saying "Beating up on the irritatingly dainty Disney trademarks is nothing new; it's just that it has rarely been done with the demolition-derby zest of Shrek." William Steig, the author of the original book, and his wife Jeanne Steig also enjoyed the film, stating "We all went sort of expecting to hate it, thinking, 'What has Hollywood done to it?' But we loved it. We were afraid it would be too sickeningly cute and, instead, Bill just thought they did a wonderful, witty job of it."
John Anderson of Newsday wrote "The kind of movie that will entertain everyone of every age and probably for ages to come." Jay Carr of The Boston Globe wrote "In an era when much on film seems old, Shrek seems new and fresh and clever." Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post gave the film five out of five stars, saying "Despite all its high-tech weirdness, it is really that most perdurable of human constructions, a tale told well and true." Joe Baltake of The Sacramento Bee wrote that it "isn't so much a fractured spoof of everything Disney, but actually a Monty Python flick for kids – kids of all ages". Andrew Sarris of The New York Observer wrote "What gives Shrek its special artistic distinction is its witty and knowingly sassy dialogue, delivered by vocally charismatic performers whose voices remind us of their stellar screen personae in live-action movies." Lisa Alspector of the Chicago Reader wrote "This romantic fantasy complicates the roles of beauty and beast, making it hard to guess what form a sensitive resolution will take." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote "The charms of Shrek, which is based on the children's book by William Steig, go far beyond in-jokes for adults." John Zebrowski of The Seattle Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "The movie is helped immensely by its cast, who carry it through some of the early, sluggish scenes. But this is Murphy's movie. Donkey gets most of the good lines, and Murphy hits every one."
A mixed review came from Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune, who gave the film two and a half stars out of four and compared it to Toy Story 2, which he said "had a higher in-jokes/laughs ratio without straining to demonstrate its hipness or to evoke heartfelt emotions". On the more negative side, Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice said he was "desperately avoiding the risk of even a half-second of boredom", and said "the movie is wall-to-window-to-door noise, babbling, and jokes (the first minute sees the first fart gag), and demographically it's a hard-sell shotgun spray." Christy Lemire of the Associated Press described Shrek as a "90-minute onslaught of in-jokes", and said while it "strives to have a heart" with "a message about beauty coming from within", "somehow [the message] rings hollow". Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said, despite the film "cunning the rendering of surfaces, there's still something flat and charmless in the digital look, and most of the pleasure rises not from the main romance but from the quick, incidental gags."
=== Accolades ===
== Legacy ==
=== Rank ===
Entertainment Weekly put Shrek on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "Prince Charming? So last millennium. This decade, fairy-tale fans – and Princess Fiona – fell for a fat and flatulent Ogre. Now, that's progress." In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"; the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community Shrek was acknowledged as the eighth best film in the animated genre, and the only non-Disney·Pixar film in the Top 10. Shrek was also ranked second in a Channel 4 poll of the "100 Greatest Family Films", losing out on the top spot to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. In 2005, Shrek came sixth in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons poll behind The Simpsons, Tom and Jerry, South Park, Toy Story and Family Guy. In November 2009, the character, Lord Farquaad, was listed No. 14 in IGN UK's "Top 15 Fantasy Villains". In 2006, it was ranked third on Bravo's 100 funniest films list. The film's title character was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2010.
American Film Institute recognition:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
Shrek – Nominated Hero
AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
"I'm a Believer" – Nominated
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
AFI's 10 Top 10 – No. 8 Animated film
=== Cultural impact ===
The New York Times retrospectively described the film as "a beloved, offbeat fairy tale whose characters and jokes continue to permeate pop culture, reaching another generation of fans." Previous films and television shows, such as Fractured Fairy Tales and The Princess Bride, had parodied the traditional fairy tale. Shrek had a significant impact that influenced a later generation of mainstream animated films, receiving recognition for being one of the most influential from the 2000s. Animated films such as Ice Age and Despicable Me began to incorporate more pop culture references. It also inspired a number of computer animated films which also spoofed fairy tales, or other related story genres, often including adult-oriented humor, such as Happily N'Ever After, Hoodwinked!, and Enchanted. In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected Shrek to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
== Other media ==
Several video game adaptations of the film have been published on various game console platforms, including Shrek (2001), Shrek: Hassle at the Castle (2002), Shrek: Extra Large (2002), Shrek: Super Party (2002) and Shrek SuperSlam (2005). Shrek was also included as a bonus unlockable character in the video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (2004).
In 2003, Dark Horse Comics released a three-issue mini-series comic book adaptation of Shrek which was written by Mark Evanier, and the issues were later compiled into a trade paperback.
A musical version, based on the film, with music by Jeanine Tesori and a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, opened on Broadway on December 14, 2008, and closed January 3, 2010, running for a total of 441 performances. It starred Brian d'Arcy James in the title role, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, Daniel Breaker as Donkey, and John Tartaglia as Pinocchio. The Broadway production was recorded and released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital media. A North American Tour opened July 25, 2010, in Chicago. A London production opened in the West End on June 7, 2011. The musical received many Tony Award nominations and won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Costume Design. It received five Laurence Olivier Award nominations including Best New Musical.
A shot-for-shot fan remake titled Shrek Retold was released through 3GI Industries on November 29, 2018. The project was a collaboration of 200 filmmakers and mixes live action, hand drawn animation, Flash animation, CGI and various other art forms to recreate the film. The film is available on YouTube for free.
== Future ==
Three sequels were released over the years – the Oscar-nominated Shrek 2 in 2004, Shrek the Third in 2007, and Shrek Forever After in 2010. Shrek 2 was the only one to receive similar acclaim from critics, though all three sequels were commercially successful. Shrek the Halls (2007) and Scared Shrekless (2010) were released as holiday-themed short films. A spin-off prequel film entitled Puss in Boots, centered on the titular character's life before his debut in Shrek 2, was released in 2011, while a sequel, titled Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and set after the events of Shrek Forever After, was released in 2022. A fifth feature film was originally planned during the development of Shrek Forever After, but the idea was later abandoned by DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Leading up to NBCUniversal's planned acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016, it was announced that a fifth Shrek film would be released in 2019. On November 6, 2018, Variety reported that Chris Meledandri had been tasked to reboot both Shrek and Puss in Boots, with the original cast potentially returning to reprise their roles. While cast members reported that a script was completed for a fifth Shrek film, development stalled and future plans have yet to be officially announced. After it was reported in April 2023 that a fifth Shrek film with the original cast and a spinoff featuring Donkey was planned, Murphy said in June 2024 that he had begun voice recording sessions for Shrek 5 months ago and would begin working for the Donkey spinoff once it was finished. A fifth Shrek film is scheduled to be released in 2027. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_College | Vassar College | Vassar College ( VASS-ər) is a private liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college became coeducational in 1969. The college offers BA degrees in more than fifty majors. Vassar College's varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in the NCAA Division III as members of the Liberty League. As of 2023, there are close to 2,500 students.
The college is one of the historic Seven Sisters. The Vassar campus comprises over 1,000 acres (400 ha) and more than 100 buildings. A designated arboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a 530-acre (210 ha) ecological preserve.
== History ==
Vassar was founded as a women's school under the name "Vassar Female College" in 1861. Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school, Judson College; he led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors. After one year, its founder, Matthew Vassar, had the word Female removed from the name, prompting some local residents of Poughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college became coeducational in 1969.
Vassar was the second of the Seven Sisters colleges, higher education schools that were strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the all-male Ivy League colleges. It was chartered by its namesake, brewer Matthew Vassar, in 1861 in the Hudson Valley, about 70 miles (110 km) north of New York City. The first person appointed to the Vassar faculty was astronomer Maria Mitchell, in 1865.
Vassar adopted coeducation in 1969. Immediately following World War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on the G.I. Bill. The formal decision to become co-ed came after its trustees declined an offer to merge with Yale University, its sibling institution, in the wave of mergers between the historically all-male colleges of the Ivy League and their Seven Sisters counterparts.
In its early years, Vassar was associated with the social elite of the Protestant establishment. E. Digby Baltzell writes that "upper-class WASP families educated their children at colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Vassar." A select and elite few of Vassar's students were allowed entry into the school's secret society Delta Sigma Rho, founded in 1922. Before becoming President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Trustee.
Approximately 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus. About 60% come from public high schools, and 40% come from private schools (both independent and religious). Vassar is currently 56% women and 44% men, at national average for national liberal arts colleges. Students are taught by more than 336 faculty members, virtually all holding the doctorate degree or its equivalent. The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, average class size, 17.
In recent freshman classes, students of color constituted 32–38% of matriculants. International students from over 60 countries make up 8–10% of the student body. In May 2007, Vassar returned to a need-blind admissions policy without regard to a student's financial status.
Vassar president Catharine Bond Hill departed in 2016. She was succeeded by Elizabeth Howe Bradley in 2017.
The college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP) in 2019.
=== Presidents ===
The following persons have served as president of Vassar College:
Table notes:
== Campus ==
The campus is in Poughkeepsie Town, adjacent to Poughkeepsie City. The area around the campus appeared as a census-designated place (CDP) in the 2020 U.S. census, with a population of 2,472.
=== Architecture ===
Vassar's campus, also an arboretum, is 1,000 acres (400 ha) and has more than 100 buildings, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International, with several buildings of architectural interest. At the center of campus stands Main Building, one of the best examples of Second Empire architecture in the United States. When it was opened, Main Building was the largest building in the U.S. in terms of floor space. It formerly housed the entire college, including classrooms, dormitories, museum, library, and dining halls. The building was designed by Smithsonian architect James Renwick Jr. and was completed in 1865. It was preceded on campus by the original observatory. Both buildings are National Historic Landmarks. Rombout House was purchased by the college in 1915 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Eero Saarinen made designs for several Vassar dormitories, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. Built for roughly 160 students, it was the first part of a circular construction that was to be continued in "Noyes II." The starkly modernist building's high cost and structural difficulties with the windows, however, led administrators to leave it at one. The dorm's common area is famous for its futuristic design; readings and concerts are held there regularly. The Noyes building was also the home of an all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who competed against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s.
=== Libraries ===
Vassar is home to one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library collection today – which actually encompasses eight libraries at Vassar – contains about 1 million volumes and 7,500 serial, periodical and newspaper titles, as well as an extensive collection of microfilm and microfiche, with special collections of Ellen Swallow Richards, Albert Einstein, Mary McCarthy, and Elizabeth Bishop. Vassar has been a Federal Depository library for selected U.S. Government documents since 1943 and currently receives approximately 25% of the titles available through the Federal Depository Program.
The interior and exterior of the Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 – May 2009 in an effort to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library's first major renovation since its construction in 1937.
=== Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center ===
In November 2016, the gallery opened the Hoene Hoy Photography gallery on the second floor, named after Anne Hoene Hoy from the class of 1963.
=== Capital improvements ===
In 2011, Vassar embarked on a $120 million project to improve science facilities at the college, centering on the construction of a new Bridge for Laboratory Sciences.
=== Housing ===
The majority of students in their first three years live on campus in the nine residence halls. Main House occupies the upper floors of Main Building, constructed at the college's founding. To accommodate a growing student body, Strong House was constructed in 1893. Strong was made all-women's housing after the college went coeducational in 1969; the house now also accepts nonbinary and other gender-nonconforming students. Similar Elizabethan-style houses—Raymond, Lathrop, and Davison—were built from 1897 to 1902 to form a residential quadrangle. A nine-story Tudor-style dormitory, Jewett House, was constructed in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle. The second largest dormitory, Josselyn House, was built in 1912 to Jewett's east. Cushing House was constructed outside of the quadrangle in 1927. In a departure from the architecture of the other dormitories, Noyes House was built in 1958 in a distinct modernist style, curved around a large green.
Most fourth-year students live in groups of four or five in on-campus apartments. Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons. A cooperative house, Ferry House, opened in 1951 and houses 20 students. Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students.
As part of a master plan to renovate all the dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011. The college opted for minor improvements to the rest of the dorms due to cost.
Vassar maintains housing for faculty; the current complex opened in 2023. The previous faculty housing facility, Williams House, was to be demolished after 2020. School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex, as well as other areas in the Vassar College CDP, are within the Arlington Central School District, which operates Arlington High School.
== Academics ==
The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:
Biology/Biological Sciences (40)
Economics (37)
Political Science and Government (36)
English Language and Literature (33)
Biochemistry (25)
Neuroscience (25)
Computer and Information Sciences (23)
=== Admissions ===
For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The combined average SAT scores of those who opted to submit their testing data was 1489 and the ACT composite average was 33. The middle 50% ranges for the SAT were 1450-1530 and 33-35 for the ACT. Of the matriculants whose high schools provided rankings, 79% were in the top ten percent of their class. For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%. For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, a 25% increase over the previous year, and accepted 2,068 (19%). For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 (23.7%), with 691 enrolling. For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021),the middle 50% range of SAT scores for enrolling freshmen was 710-760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710-780 for math, and 1420-1540 for the composite. The middle 50% ACT score range was 28-33 for math, 32-34 for English, and 32-34 for the composite.
Students of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class; international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen.
=== Rankings ===
The 2025 edition of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Colleges" ranked Vassar as tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years the college was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as high as tenth. In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Vassar second for "Best Colleges for Veterans", 29th for "Best Value", 15th for "Top Performers on Social Mobility", and tied for 20th in "Best Undergraduate Teaching". It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity as measured by low-income students receiving federal Pell Grants.
In its 2021 edition, Washington Monthly ranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
In its 2020 edition, The Princeton Review rated Vassar first for "Best Financial Aid" of all colleges and universities in the United States. In its 2018 edition, The Princeton Review rated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for "best value". In 2025, Forbes rated Vassar 26th among liberal arts colleges and 102nd overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 500 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges. Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States. Money magazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition.
In an article in The Christian Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritus Catharine Bond Hill argued that rankings "will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles".
=== Post-graduation outcomes ===
Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately post-graduation. Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted.
== Student life ==
=== Traditions ===
Founder's Day is an annual campus festival at Vassar College that usually takes place in late April or early May. It started as a surprise birthday party for college founder Matthew Vassar's seventy-fourth birthday and evolved into an annual celebration. Originally, Founder's Day was a spontaneous event consisting of lectures, but was soon replaced with plays, pageants, and more recreational activities. Circus and fair activities followed, with the eventual addition of the modern day music events over the course of two days. More recently themes have been added, including Alice in Wonderland, Dinosaurs, Vintage 1800s Vassar, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, and Candyland. Recent artists at Founder's Day have included The Walkmen, Edan, DJ /rupture, Odd Nosdam, Jel, Toro y Moi, and Odesza.
=== Extracurricular organizations ===
The Night Owls, established in the 1940s, are, as of 2017, one of the oldest extant collegiate a cappella groups in the United States, and one of nine vocal music groups at Vassar. Other groups include the Vastards (specializing in the music of the 2000s), Broadway and More (BAM; showtunes), the Accidentals (the Axies; the sole all-lower voices a cappella group at Vassar), Beauty and the Beats (focusing on music from Disney movies), Home Brewed (formerly Matthew's Minstrels, the college's first mixed-gender a cappella group), the Vassar Devils, Measure 4 Measure (both themeless groups), and AirCappella (an all-whistling ensemble). Some a cappella groups tour and compete, including the Vassar Devils, who competed in the 2015 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.
The Philaletheis Society, which was founded in 1865 as a literary society, is the oldest theater group on campus. It has now become a completely student run theater group. Others include Unbound (experimental theater), Woodshed (a troupe focused on devised theater), and Idlewild (an ensemble for people of marginalized genders). Britomartis, Vassar's only theater group exclusively creating devised theater, was founded in 2011. Further groups include the Future Waitstaff of America (for musical theater), Ebony Theatre Ensemble (focusing on Black theater), and two Shakespeare-specific troupes, Shakespeare Troupe and Merely Players. The college also hosts the Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series.
Happily Ever Laughter ("HEL") is the college's oldest continually active sketch comedy group, founded in 1993. Another comedy group, Big K!dz (formerly No Offense), which was started by two former members of an earlier group called Laughingstock (for which recognition by the student assembly was withdrawn in March 2000, as a result of a controversial sketch), was started in September 2000. Another sketch comedy group, The Limit, was started a few years later. Indecent Exposure, an all-women's troupe performing both sketch and stand-up comedy, was founded in 2004. Comedy Normative, which began in 2009, performs exclusively stand-up comedy. Vassar has a tradition of improv comedy groups, which continue today.
The Vassar Greens are Vassar's environmental group.
Vassar College Television (VCTV) is the college's first student-run video production company.
=== Campus publications ===
The Miscellany News has been the weekly paper of the college since 1866, making it one of the oldest college weeklies in the United States. It is available for free most Thursdays when school is in session
Squirm "is a submissions-based magazine about sex and sexuality. Squirm seeks to create a sex-positive forum on campus for the artistic, literary, and creative exploration of sex." The magazine, published annually since 1999, typically runs around 60 pages and is only distributed to the campus community.
Boilerplate Magazine is a student-run publication that calls itself an "alternative news source... that aims to publish radical pieces and creative works which address issues through a socially conscious lens." Due to its independence from collegiate funds, Boilerplate Magazine is generally more critical of the college than other student-run outlets.
Unscrewed (October 1, 1976 - April 1, 1989) was a student-run consumer report on campus residential and classroom safety, local food and drug price comparison, an annual local pizza delivery survey, and long-term topics such as the college's endowment and staffing.
=== Radio station ===
WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971.
=== Student government ===
In March 2016, in a 15–2 vote, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution calling for the support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the boycott of Israel. In April 2016, the BDS resolution went to a school-wide referendum, where it was defeated 573–503.
=== Athletics ===
Vassar teams, known as the Brewers, compete in Division III of the NCAA, as a member of the Liberty League. The nickname originates from the college's founder and namesake Matthew Vassar, whose family ran a brewery in Poughkeepsie and would later amass a sizable fortune in the industry.
In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beating UC Santa Cruz 3–0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game.
In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The competition included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus.
In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders decided the men's and women's rowing team would transition over a two-year period from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure.
In 1940, 1941 and 1942, Vassar athletes won national intercollegiate women's tennis championships each year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell, Carolyn "Lonny" Myers).
In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, beating Winona State 50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2.
== Notable people ==
Notable Vassar alumni include:
Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include:
Julia Tutwiler, education and prison reform advocate
Anthony Bourdain, professional chef and television personality
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, First Lady of the United States, book editor
Brooke Hayward, actress, author, art collector
Katharine Graham, The Washington Post publisher
Susan Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation
Anne Hathaway, actress
Jane Fonda, actress
Justin Long, actor
Mike D, member of the Beastie Boys
Mark Ronson, Academy Award-winning musician
Rachael Yamagata, musician
Curtis Sittenfeld, writer
Notable Vassar faculty include:
Frank Bergon, writer
Grace Hopper, computer scientist
Hua Hsu, writer
Michael Joyce, writer and pioneer of hypertext fiction
Grace Macurdy, classicist
James Merrell, historian
Mitchell Miller, philosopher
Maria Mitchell, pioneering female astronomer
Uma Narayan, philosopher
Mabel Newcomer, economist
Paul Russell, writer
Peter Stillman, political scientist
Bryan W. Van Norden, philosopher
Nancy Willard, writer
Richard Edward Wilson, composer
Monique Wittig, philosopher |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_in_a_Bottle | Genie in a Bottle | "Genie in a Bottle" is a song by the American singer Christina Aguilera from her self-titled debut album (1999). Pam Sheyne, Steve Kipner, and David Frank wrote the track; the latter two produced it. RCA Records released "Genie in a Bottle" as the album's lead single on May 11, 1999. A soul-pop, teen pop, and dance-pop song with elements of R&B, "Genie in a Bottle" uses sexual references to address themes of self-respect and abstinence: Aguilera's narration affirms to a love interest that to be with her, they have to know the right way to please her.
Reviews of "Genie in a Bottle" generally praised the production as catchy and Aguilera's vocals as soulful and expressive. It was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000. The single reached number one on record charts of 21 countries and has been certified double Platinum in Canada and the United Kingdom. In the United States, "Genie in a Bottle" spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has been certified triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Diane Martel directed the music video for "Genie in a Bottle", which was shot in Malibu, California. The video received heavy rotation on MTV's Total Request Live. "Genie in a Bottle" is one of Aguilera's signature songs, and was credited with establishing her name and for playing a part in the teen pop craze of the late 1990s. A Spanish version of the song titled "Genio Atrapado" was included on Mi Reflejo (2000), and the electropop remake "Genie 2.0" was included on Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits (2008). "Genie in a Bottle" was covered by multiple artists, including Dove Cameron, Darren Criss and Speedway.
== Background ==
After receiving notification that the final season of The New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–94) would air, cast member Aguilera became determined to release her debut studio album during her senior year in high school. She began recording sessions with producers Roberts Alleca and Michael Brown, but was displeased with the pace of her developing career. Despite being offered free studio time with Alleca and Brown, Aguilera ventured to Japan in an effort to boost her career. While there, the pair offered her the opportunity to collaborate with Japanese pop star Keizo Nakanishi on the track "All I Wanna Do" (1994), though the project failed to achieve commercial success. As her international successes broadened, Aguilera caught the attention of future manager Steve Kurtz; she had previously had a verbal agreement with Ruth Inniss, which was never later formalized.
Kurtz spent much of his time devoted to finding Aguilera a record deal, sending demos to multiple companies. Just as communications with RCA Records began, she was offered the chance to record "Reflection", the theme song for the 1998 Disney film Mulan. Its success landed her a multi-album recording contract. RCA's financial state prevented them from contending with major labels at the time. In an attempt to encourage Aguilera to sign with them and maintain the hype surrounding "Reflection", they offered to record and release her debut studio album by January 1999, though such an arrangement ultimately failed to happen. Originally, Aguilera "wasn't too crazy" about the demo recording for "Genie in a Bottle", though she eventually became "proud" of the result. RCA executive Ron Fair sympathized with her reaction to the release and inclusion of the track, finding that the marketing decision would be to release a "sugar candy" number one single, something that was not necessarily a "great song" so that her career could strengthen.
== Writing and development ==
EMI executive Carla Ondrasik introduced two of her most prominent songwriters, David Frank and Steve Kipner. They began working together, and later collaborated with writer Pamela Sheyne. The evening before their songwriting appointment, Frank awoke with an idea for a song which consisted of an eight-bar loop with "a lot of different changes". When presenting the track to Sheyne, she performed the lyrics "If you want to be with me", which Frank liked. The three writers continued adding lyrics to a "really fast" writing session; they agreed that intellect was an afterthought, with the main intention to create a "hit song". They agreed a female should serve as the lead singer, at which point Frank recommended that Aguilera record the track.
Aguilera contributed a spoken hook for the song, saying there "wasn't enough time" between the Mulan soundtrack and Christina Aguilera recording sessions for her to provide more lyrical offerings. She later said that she had a substantial role in the production, stating that she adjusted instruments and lyrics after being displeased with its "rough beginnings". In the interview for Time Aguilera noted: "I actually had some contribution in writing in the first album. I didn’t know I should have a credit, so I kind of got cheated." Originally presented as "If You Want to Be with Me", Aguilera's management suggested the final name "Genie in a Bottle". The title was conceived to present an Arabian theme, which the label felt they could market with beaded jewelry and clothing to develop the record's theme. Prior to being recorded by Aguilera, the track received much interest from the writers of the up-and-coming girl group Innosense, who felt that the band was more likely to make the song a hit. In an interview, Sheyne said there were three artists interested in the song—Aguilera, Innosense and Paula Abdul. However, Innosense and Abdul did not have completed albums which meant the release of the song would not happen for a while, but Aguilera's debut album was done. The producers and songwriter were told that Aguilera would release the song as her first single from her debut album. RCA Records executive Ron Fair pushed for the track, the writers allowed Aguilera to record the track, and had "no doubt" she was the right performer after she completed the recording.
== Recording ==
The demo track that the record company had heard was used as a basis for Aguilera's actual recording, as she only replaced the vocals on the demo with her own before the writers and producers edited it for improvement. However, after the first recording was completed they felt her vocals were too "hard" sounding; a second proved to deliver the "softer" quality they were after. During the recording process, co-writer Kipner was impressed by Aguilera's performance of complex R&B lines, something he had come to expect only from older artists, and compared her vocal style to that of Chaka Khan, Etta James, and Mariah Carey. Before Frank had met Aguilera most of "Genie in a Bottle" had already been completed, he had heard a tape delivered by RCA featuring Aguilera's performance of "Reflection" but Frank feared she could not perform in a "hip-hop oriented style". The instrumental for "Genie in a Bottle" was almost complete before the entire composition had been finished, it was only when he was contacted by songwriter Pam Sheyne that they progressed in writing the track and later Frank contacted Steve Kipner, "a good friend" of his, and after agreeing to collaborate the three continued writing "Genie in a Bottle".
== Composition ==
Reviewers of "Genie in a Bottle" noted the youthful message with The New York Times saying "One of the summer's catchiest singles captures the moment's anxieties about teen-age sex". The track has been described as "blue-eyed-soul" and has been labelled "a skittish dance hit, propelled by indecision "My body's saying let's go [...] but my heart is saying no". The chorus then plays with "bubbly dance beats" as Aguilera metaphorically describes herself as a Genie trapped, and can only be released when rubbed "the right way". She explained "If you listen to the words "My body's saying let's go but my heart is saying no". My heart is saying no. So it's really a song about self-respect and treating me the way I want to be treated before I just give my love away to anybody". Celebrities such as Debbie Gibson spoke out against the song saying she was "horrified" with the lyricism being performed by an 18-year-old; the comment went on to upset Aguilera who found her being a female was restricting what she could perform. Lyricism in the track had sexual references which saw controversy arise, but Larry Flick from Billboard commented, "Fueled by a chugging groove and richly layered vocals, the tune is punctuated by a breathy command to 'rub me the right way.'" Aguilera said that "the song is not about sex, It's about self-respect. It's about not giving in to temptation until you're respected." In Malaysia the controversial lyrics gained it a ban which led Aguilera to re-record some of the lyrics such as; "hormones racing" to "heart-beats racing" and "rub the right way" to "treat me the right way".
"Genie in a Bottle" is written in the key of F minor with a tempo of 84 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Fm – E♭ – D♭, and Aguilera's vocals span from F3 to B♭4. According to Billboard's Kenneth Partridge, a thirty-second note bass-drum pattern of the song "mimics the heart palpitations of a teenager in lust."
== Critical reception ==
"Genie in a Bottle" received strong acclaim for the music critics. Time magazine reporter David E. Thigpen noted that "the song reveals a crystalline voice full of wonderful shadings and with a soulful ring that sets her [Aguilera] apart in the overhyped teen market." Tom Lanham of Entertainment Weekly gave the song a B+ for its predictability after other performers from the Mickey Mouse Club, writing, "Yet another ex-Mouseketeer scampers down the Britney-pop path with a suggestive synth ditty and a husky voice well beyond her 18 years." Lanham wrote that her vocal performance was "uncomfortably adult" but called the track "a sinfully sweet confection". A writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gave the song a positive review calling it a "smoldering soul-pop" track and described Aguilera's vocals as being "provocative" whilst calling the song a "pleasure" to listen to. In a review for the album Christina Aguilera critic Robert Christgau called the song a "dazzling clever piece of teen self-exploration cum sexploitation". Nana-Adwoa Ofori of the AOL Radio blog listed the song as her top Christina Aguilera song declaring it as her "signature" track. A writer from Daily News found Aguilera to be more capable vocally than the tracks limits but found the track to be "a slice of thumping sensuality". Kenneth Partridge of Billboard simply called it a "great teen-pop song", and praised its musical structure. Chris Malone, also from the Billboard magazine, named "Genie in a Bottle" a "generational touchstone for pop music" in his 2023 retrospective review.
Nicole Hogsett of Yahoo! found the song's appeal was due to the catchy chorus but found the song separated her from other pop stars at the time of the single's release. Hogsett found the song quickly "established she was different than your typical pop star". People called the song "sexy" and "pulsating". A writer for The New York Times "got" the song's youthful message and said "One of the summer's catchiest singles captures the moment's anxieties about teenage sex. 'Genie in a Bottle', sung by the blue-eyed former Mouseketeer Christina Aguilera, is a skittish dance hit propelled by indecision". Pier Dominquez, writer of A Star Is Made found the song could be deemed suggestive but stated the track does not promote sex or promiscuity. He found the sensuality of the song came from Aguilera's vocal delivery and found her ad-libbing something that would set her apart from other artists.
Eliseo Cardona, CDNow senior editor, was not satisfied with the translation: "...when Aguilera sings her breakout hit "Genie in the Bottle" in a direct Spanish translation, "Genio atrapado", she sounds funny, if not ill at ease. Indeed, the overly literal Spanish lyrics make for both a good laugh and a better yawn." Parry Gettelman of Orlando Sentinel praised her vocals: "Aguilera's powerhouse style works best on the urban-flavored up-tempo numbers. She uses the more attractive lower end of her range on expanses of 'Genio Atrapado'." Sean Piccoli, music writer of Sun-Sentinel, wrote a positive review: "'Genio Atrapado', the opener, is as cheesy-sexy-cool as the original, 'Genie in a Bottle', her first hit. The translation fits the tune, not vice versa, so Aguilera can still revel in her teenage awakening even without a Spanish equivalent of, 'Ya gotta rub me the right way'." The song was voted as the 18th best song of 1999 by Pazz & Jop. It was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, and won the BMI Award.
== Commercial performance ==
"Genie in a Bottle" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 61 in the week of July 3, 1999. The following week, it climbed 49 spots to number 12, before entering the top five. The song reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated July 31, 1999. Based on strong airplay and CD sales, it stayed at the top spot for five consecutive weeks and became the biggest summer song of 1999. At that point, it had the longest stay at number one for the entire year, tying Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" and Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love", although Carlos Santana would later in the year take the single, "Smooth", to number one on the chart with a ten-week run. According to Billboard, "Genie in a Bottle" was the second best-selling single of 1999, with 1,360,000 units sold, only behind Cher's "Believe" with 1,700,000 copies sold. It also became Aguilera's best-selling physical single to date.
The song also crossed over successfully to other Billboard charts, topping the Mainstream Top 40, Top 40 Tracks, and Rhythmic Top 40 charts. The song even managed to reach the Adult Top 40, and the Spanish version of the song, "Genio Atrapado" (English: "Trapped Genie"), was a modest hit on the Latin chart. Strong sales assured the single a Platinum certification. "Genie in a Bottle" stayed on Billboard Hot 100 for 25 weeks, and 24 weeks in the United Kingdom. Internationally, a similar chart dominance was seen, as the track went to number one in both the United Kingdom and Canada for multiple weeks. It entered the top five in almost every country it charted. It reached number one on the record charts of 21 countries worldwide, as reported by Billboard in January 2000. Overall, the song is Aguilera's second-highest-charting single, behind "Lady Marmalade", a collaboration with Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink. "Genie in a Bottle" was certified Platinum in Germany for selling over 500,000 units. The single was also certified Platinum in Australia for selling over 70,000 units.
"Genie in a Bottle" was certified Platinum in almost every country it was released in, later ending at No. 7 on the year-end chart in the United States, and No. 7 on the European year-end chart. In the United Kingdom, it sold 172,000 copies in the first week, and spent two weeks at number 1. As of October 2021, it was her third biggest song in the country with 1.04 million copies sold, and 37.2 million streams.
== Music video ==
The music video accompanying the track was directed by Diane Martel in April 1999, who had previously worked on Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover", and was shot in Malibu with surroundings of a beach and a wooden beach house. "I was out on the sand, greased up in, like, baby oil in shorts and a little cut-off top" she recalled. During the video, scenes saw her and others surrounding a campfire and despite this Aguilera recalled the video shoot was "freezing" with crew members all wearing large coats to keep them warm from the cold which Aguilera was struggling with. In most scenes of the video, Aguilera sings and performs a "genie"-inspired choreography with her male dancers in front of the beach. As the video advances, the guys (with Christina's love interest in there) join the beach party. Near the end of the video, all the teens go outside and hang out around a bonfire. The video premiered on both MTV and The Box the week ending on June 20, 1999.
Analyzing the video, A Star Is Made author Pier Dominquez said:
The lighting of the video prominently featured Christina's golden tresses as her best feature, although the singer herself was rather obscured by the dark shadows, suggesting that the record company still did not know what to do with the singer's image. The choreography featured Christina, wearing orange pants and a beaded blouse, with her dance troop behind her, simulating a genie coming out of the bottle. It was filled with symbolism and her dancing was incredible.
The video received heavy rotation on VH1 and The Box, as well as reaching the top position on MTV's chart of most played videos for the week. Time's David E. Thigpen noted that the video generated "the kind of genuine enthusiasm on MTV that doesn’t come around much anymore". It was parodied in the music video for the single "All the Small Things" by American pop-punk band Blink-182, although some concluded that the group's basis for satire was thin.
== Live performances ==
Aguilera performed the track on the MTV show TRL among other tracks from her self-titled album. The particular day in which she performed the track, host Carson Daly was not present and Aguilera publicly declared she had "missed" him which led to a media frenzy surrounding a rumored romance between Daly and herself. The following month, Aguilera performed on the British television chart show Top of the Pops and during the same episode that her performance was aired on, Mariah Carey performed her track "Heartbreaker" which led Aguilera to announce to the media her appreciation and her willingness to meet the performer. Once again her performance on Top of the Pops had gathered more controversy than she had wished and soon a feud erupted from Carey's team which critics noted was due to the lack of success stemming from her album Rainbow and the consistent comparisons between the pair. Aguilera also performed at the National Building Museum for the Children's National Medical Center in the company of president Bill Clinton; later she performed for WFLZ's Y-2 concert in Florida with 15,000 fans viewing, wearing a silver top and gem studded jeans with a blue-sequined bandana performing the track on both occasions. It was announced by MTV in 1999 that Aguilera would perform live on their New Year's Eve Special. Wearing "tight" leather trousers, Aguilera performed the track live as the first song in her set which was then followed by "What a Girl Wants".
"Genie in a Bottle" was also performed during her 2002–03 Justified & Stripped Tour, a concert tour which was held in order to support Aguilera's album Stripped (2002) and Justin Timberlake's Justified (2002). The "Egyptian-turned-metal version" performance featured Aguilera in her pink straps attached to her outfit rolling on a giant "X", which portrayed her contemporary alter ego "Xtina". It included Middle Eastern keyboards and 80's hair-metal guitar, where she slowly released herself as a "genie" as male dancers danced around her. On November 23, 2008, she performed the song while promoting her compilation album Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits, at the 36th Annual American Music Awards. She opened the show with a seven-minute medley of her greatest hits, which also included "Beautiful", "Keeps Gettin' Better", "Dirrty", "Ain't No Other Man" and "Fighter".
In July 2021, Aguilera performed the song for two nights at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She later performed a gothic-style, rock-inspired rendition of "Genie in a Bottle" during the 47th People's Choice Awards, and sang it again during her Dubai concert, at the Expo 2020. "Genie in a Bottle" was part of Aguilera's setlist at the EuroPride concert in Malta in September 2023.
== Legacy and media usage ==
"Genie in a Bottle" has been widely regarded as one of Aguilera's signature songs. This song gained her mainstream success and credibility among music critics. It is also credited for redefining the sound of late 1990s music. Rolling Stone says about Aguilera, "Even in her teen-pop "Genie in a Bottle" days, she was modeling her dramatic, melismatic technique on old-school soul heroines like Etta James". It was ranked fifth on Rolling Stone's list of the biggest 1990s summer songs — a sentiment shared by the Billboard magazine in July 2020. It was also ranked #38th on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s. In July 2020 a digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. "Genie in a Bottle" was the twentieth song with the highest recognisability rate. The single was listed in the book titled The 7,500 Most Important Songs of the Rock and Roll Era: 1944–2000 by Bruce Pollock. and two other publications about best of all-time music — Paul Morley's Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City, and 2004 of the Best Songs of the Century by Giannis Petridis. Blender ranked the song on its 2005 list of the 500 greatest songs of the 1980s–2000s.
Bustle writer Sabienna Bowman called the song "a masterpiece of musical achievement" saying that the song "either about sex or self respect, depending on who you asked — was the anthem of the summer 1999". Bowman added that the song is "still everything that was so good about '90s pop music". Vice writer Nick Levine also agreed that song allowed Aguilera to take on a "full-on pop phenomenon" persona, adding that "[a]longside [Britney] Spears, Aguilera is the most iconic pop star of her era". In 2021, Bustle writers Anneliese Cooper and Jake Viswanath also added that Aguilera changed "the landscape of pop music forever". Rolling Stone writer Anthony Bozza noted that,
Aguilera's introduction, "Genie in a Bottle", is sugary pop – once heard, never purged – but it doesn't showcase her vocal strength or control. Unlike most teen poppers, Aguilera can cut it without a multitrack studio. Imagewise, she isn't the typical red-cheeked kid next door, either. She's a teen diva, a kind of legal Lolita, proffering precocious "Oops, did I say that?" innuendo and belting songs like her life depends on it. She comports herself like a pro, as if she were born with a mike in her hand, donning platform booties.
In an effort to maintain the "buzz" surrounding both the record and Aguilera, RCA set up a guest spot for her to perform the track on the teen-marketed television show Beverly Hills 90210. The performance saw Aguilera in a bar performing at a birthday party for a character named David. During the 2014 US Open, the song was used whenever Eugenie Bouchard played on the court, Genie being her nickname. In the fifth season of New Girl, Jessica "Jess" Day (played by Zooey Deschanel) sings Schmidt (Max Greenfield) to sleep with the lyrics. Colleen Ballinger performed the song in the Haters Back Off episode "Staring in a Musicall". The song was used in the Off-Broadway adaptation of Cruel Intentions, acted out by Katie Stevens as Kathryn Merteuil. Darren Criss performed the song during his LM/DC Tour. In January 2018 Erika Jayne gave a rendition of "Genie in a Bottle" during the Aguilera-themed episode on Lip Sync Battle. Ewelina Lisowska covered the song in the Polish edition of an interactive talent show Your Face Sounds Familiar (2019). A slowed-down cover version of the song was used in the 2019 comedy-drama film Yes, God, Yes. A Spanish version of the song, titled "Genio Atrapado", was featured in the episode of the third season of Drag Race España, performed by Chanel Anorex and Kelly Roller. The song was mentioned in Prince Harry's 2023 memoir Spare, and was used in the 2024 film The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling.
Jason Derulo sampled "Genie in a Bottle" in his 2019 song "Talk with Your Body". An interpolation from the track was included in Lali's and Taichu's single "S.O.S", as well. Kat DeLuna sampled the song in her 2007 track "Love Confusion". Likewise, it has been sampled by Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Camila Cabello. In 2024, Rag'n'Bone Man covered the song on BBC Radio 2's Piano Room.
== Other versions ==
In 2000, Aguilera recorded a Spanish version of "Genie in a Bottle" titled "Genio Atrapado" for her second studio album, Mi Reflejo. The song's lyrics were translated from English to Spanish by Cuban-American producer Rudy Pérez. "Genio Atrapado" peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart. The song received a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2000, which was awarded to Shakira for "Ojos Así". A music video for the song was directed by Diane Martel, who also directed the visual for "Genie in a Bottle".
In the fall of 2001, an unauthorized mashup remix by The Freelance Hellraiser which combined Aguilera's a cappella vocals with the Strokes' 2001 song "Hard to Explain" was released under the title "A Stroke of Genius", receiving considerable attention and some airplay; The Guardian described the remix as having "defined the decade" as an early example of remix culture. Scottish band Speedway covered "A Stroke of Genius" (using the original title "Genie in a Bottle") and released it as their debut single as a double A-side with another song, "Save Yourself", on August 25, 2003. "Genie in a Bottle"/"Save Yourself" reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Alisa Mizuki released a Japanese-language cover of the song, titled "Love Potion", in 2002.
In 2008, Aguilera recorded a remake of "Genie in a Bottle" entitled "Genie 2.0" for her first greatest hits album, Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits. "Genie 2.0" is an electropop-oriented song; a reviewer from Rolling Stone compared the song to works by Lady Gaga. The song was released via the iTunes Store in the United States to promote the album. Nick Butler of Sputnikmusic likened the song's style to that of The Eurythmics's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and called it "awesome". To promote Keeps Gettin' Better, Aguilera performed "Genie 2.0" at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. The remake debuted at number 161 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2016, Dove Cameron covered "Genie in a Bottle" with sanitized lyrics for the Disney Channel short series Descendants: Wicked World, accompanying it with a music video directed by Jay Martin. Cameron's version was received with praise with MTV writer Jessica Norton saying, "Not only does the revived cover satisfy our love of reliving the '90s, it also introduces a whole new generation to the iconic pop track." Cameron's cover peaked at number 11 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100. In September 2024, another cover of the song was released on EP titled The 25th Anniversary of Christina Aguilera (Spotify Anniversaries Live). It featured singer and guitarist Machine Gun Kelly.
== Track listings ==
US CD and cassette single; UK cassette single
"Genie in a Bottle" – 3:36
"Blessed" – 3:06
German CD maxi single
"Genie in a Bottle" – 3:36
"We're a Miracle" – 4:09
"Don't Make Me Love You" – 4:15
UK CD maxi single 1
"Genie in a Bottle" – 3:36
"Blessed" – 3:06
"Genie in a Bottle" (Acapella Mix) – 4:16
UK CD maxi single 2 (limited edition)
"Genie in a Bottle" – 3:36
"Genie in a Bottle" (Eddie Arroyo Radio Club Mix) – 3:58
"Genie in a Bottle" (Enhanced Music Video)
European CD-maxi remix single
"Genie in a Bottle" (Eddie Arroyo Rhythm Mix) – 4:26
"Genie in a Bottle" (Riprock 'n' Alex G. Mix) – 3:50
"Genie in a Bottle" (Eddie Arroyo Radio Club Mix) – 3:58
"Genie in a Bottle" (Album version) – 3:36
== Personnel ==
Personnel are adapted from the CD liner notes.
== Charts ==
=== Speedway version ===
=== Dove Cameron version ===
== Certifications ==
== Release history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Swinson | Jo Swinson | Joanne Kate Swinson (born 5 February 1980) is a Scottish former politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from July to December 2019. Swinson was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire from 2005 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE).
Swinson studied at the London School of Economics, and briefly worked in public relations, before being elected to the House of Commons aged 25, becoming the youngest MP at the time. She was a Liberal Democrat Spokesperson covering various portfolios, including Scotland, Women and Equalities, Communities and Local Government, and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition government with the Conservative Party, Swinson was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and was later appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs. She lost her seat in the 2015 election, but regained it in the snap election held two years later. Shortly after returning to Parliament, she was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. In July 2019, following the retirement of Vince Cable, Swinson defeated Ed Davey in a leadership election to become Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Swinson led her party through the 2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democrat majority government which would revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit. Instead, Swinson and the Liberal Democrats sustained a net loss in seats, including her own to the Scottish National Party and was disqualified from continuing as party leader. At less than five months, her tenure as leader was the shortest in the Liberal Democrats' history. She is also the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to have lost a Parliamentary seat.
== Early life and education ==
Swinson was born in Glasgow on 5 February 1980, the daughter of Peter and Annette Swinson. She was educated at Douglas Academy, a mixed state school in the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire in western Scotland, followed by the London School of Economics, where she studied Management, gaining a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in 2000. She signed up as an active member of the Liberal Democrats at the age of 17.
== Early career ==
After graduating from the London School of Economics, Swinson moved to Yorkshire and worked for Ace Visual and Sound Systems in Thorne, before becoming a marketing and public relations manager for Hull-based commercial radio station Viking FM from December 2000, and media company Space and People.
At the age of 21, Swinson stood unsuccessfully in the Kingston upon Hull East constituency in the 2001 general election, but gained a 6% swing from John Prescott, then the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contested Strathkelvin and Bearsden seat in the Scottish Parliament election, finishing third with 14% of the vote.
== Member of Parliament (2005–2015) ==
Swinson was elected to the House of Commons as the MP for East Dunbartonshire at the 2005 general election. She defeated John Lyons of Labour by 4,061 votes, and was the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s. As the youngest MP she replaced fellow Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather as the "Baby of the House". This lasted until 2009, when Conservative MP Chloe Smith was elected at the Norwich North by-election.
Swinson was vocal in her opposition to the Iraq War and the Labour government's proposals for national identity cards. She has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackle climate change such as conserving energy in the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducing green taxes while reducing income tax to offset the burden. She supports reducing the voting age to 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this. She opposes positive discrimination to address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their national party conference in 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, "I am not a token woman".
Swinson has also called for a "wellbeing index" to be introduced, to be compared against GDP, and tabled an early day motion on the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures. She found support from MPs such as Vince Cable and Angela Eagle. Swinson cited the fact that although standard of living had increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls.
Swinson believed that new prisons ought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison at Bishopbriggs within the constituency. She had said that if a prison was built it must not be built cheaply, and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited. The campaign to give the prison its original name was ultimately successful, as the replacement prison will retain its original name, Lowmoss Prison.
She is an active campaigner against excessive packaging of chocolate Easter eggs. Each year from 2007 saw Swinson attack confectionery manufacturers for wasteful use of non-recyclable materials in packaging of the seasonal goods. She has named Guylian as the worst offender, followed by Lindt, Baileys and Cadbury.
Swinson successfully held her seat of East Dunbartonshire in the 2010 general election, although with a slightly decreased majority. Her party, the Liberal Democrats, subsequently entered into a coalition with the Conservative Party.
=== Parliamentary Private Secretary ===
In November 2010, Swinson was made parliamentary private secretary to then Business Secretary Vince Cable.
In December 2010, she was one of 27 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted in favour of allowing universities to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year.
In February 2012, Swinson replaced Norman Lamb as Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year.
=== Business Minister (2012–2015) ===
In September 2012, Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime Minister David Cameron. She maintained this role for the remainder of the Cameron–Clegg coalition, except for several months of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014.
Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which prevents pedlars (travelling salesmen) and street traders from trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police. In November 2012, Swinson said that the proposed deregulation would help "eliminate barriers to street traders and pedlars by making it easier to trade, boosting retail and helping small traders – including many young entrepreneurs – to expand and grow”. The proposal was criticised by the Local Government Association, which claimed that it would lead to a 'free for all' of pedlars targeting vulnerable people. By 2014, however, Swinson announced she would seek to amend rather than repeal the laws.
Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would "negatively affect" the performance of businesses. She instead promoted voluntary solutions, telling an event organised by the British Chambers of Commerce, "What women need is confidence, not quotas. So rather than telling companies what to do, we're encouraging them to see the real business benefits of taking voluntary action."
From 2013, Swinson sought to promote fathers' rights in regard to parental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants.
In October 2013, controversy emerged after MPs in the House of Commons allowed Swinson, then pregnant, to stand for 20 minutes without offering her a seat. This led to political debate and comment about whether or not it was sexist to give up a seat for a pregnant woman, with Prime Minister David Cameron wading into the row to say that offering pregnant women seats was the right thing to do. Swinson herself later commented that it was not sexist to offer a pregnant woman a seat, and that it was "great for people to offer, and part of life's little courtesies."
In the area of employment, she was supportive of both Zero-hour contracts and flexible working, seeking to promote the latter especially. On minimum wage, in February 2013 Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that "caution" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs. Swinson pledged £80,000 of government financial support for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, an initiative led by corporations including Aviva Investors and Calvert which measures and ranks performance of global companies in regard to human rights.
Swinson was keen to promote employee ownership, such as employee ownership of shares, through the establishment of a FTSE-compliant UK Employee Ownership Index, supporting measures to reduce regulations for companies choosing to adopt employee ownership practices, and a scheme allowing companies to contractually offer employees £2,000 to £50,000 worth of shares (which would be exempted from capital gains tax) in exchange for waiving certain employee rights. Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff.
By 2014, it was being reported that Swinson was tipped to replace Alistair Carmichael as Scottish Secretary and enter the Cabinet in a potential reshuffle, which at the time would have made her the youngest female Cabinet member ever and the first Cabinet member to be born in the 1980s. At the same time, however, electoral projections for the 2015 general election showed Swinson was under serious risk of losing her East Dunbartonshire seat to a surge of Scottish National Party support.
Swinson introduced to parliament the Consumer Rights Act 2015 on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and update consumer protection law and thereby provide a "modern framework of consumer rights".
Shortly before the 2015 general election, The Times and the Financial Times reported that Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democrat peer and donor Matthew Oakeshott even though their seats, including Swinson's, were vulnerable marginals.
Swinson was featured in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by the Evening Standard.
=== 2015 and 2017 general elections ===
Swinson lost her parliamentary seat in the 2015 general election to Scottish National Party candidate John Nicolson by 2,167 votes (4.0%). She stood again for her former seat during the 2017 general election and won with a lead of 5,339 votes (10.3%) over Nicolson. During this time, she wrote her book Equal Power: And How You Can Make It Happen.
Between 2017 and 2018, Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England. She also voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK.
== Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017–2019) ==
Following the resignation of Tim Farron as Liberal Democrat leader on 14 June 2017, Swinson was named by the BBC as one of the possible contenders for the leadership along with Norman Lamb and Vince Cable. She later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations.
As of October 2017, she was her party's Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase "Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans" in criticising populism. In the same speech she called for the state visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to be cancelled and warned about Brexit.
In February 2018, Swinson's first book Equal Power: And How You Can Make It Happen was published by Atlantic Books. Discussing her book, Swinson explained that government has "limitations" when addressing gender inequality, so her book instead mainly suggests ideas for people to make changes in their own homes and workplaces. The Irish Times likened Equal Power to the "corporate feminism" of Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, while The Herald also noted "A read of Equal Power makes it apparent that Swinson is a fan of Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In." Swinson's book was featured at the Aye Write! literary festival in Glasgow.
In a March 2018 article for The Mail on Sunday, Swinson came out in favour of erecting a statue of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square. She justified her position on feminist grounds and claimed that Thatcher was able to "single-handedly transform the fortunes of women", accusing opponents of the Thatcher statue as being "pretty sexist". Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating the UK rebate and for taking the UK into the single market, but was also critical of Thatcher for the poll tax and stressed she did not consider herself a Thatcherite. In addition, she wrote that there should be a statue of the first female First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon in time, though she disagrees with Scottish independence.
In July 2018, Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son. During this period, she attended an anti-Trump protest, drawing criticism from Labour MP Kate Hoey on The Spectator's podcast. Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis had formally agreed not to vote, so that Swinson's absence would not affect the result. Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to "desperate stuff" and a "calculated, deliberate breaking of trust". Lewis apologised, alongside Cabinet Office minister David Lidington and government chief whip Julian Smith. Apologising on Twitter, Lewis said that it was an "honest mistake made by the whips in fast-moving circumstances."
== Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2019) ==
In May 2019, Vince Cable announced he would relinquish his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats in July, triggering a leadership election. Subsequently, while appearing on the 30 May edition of the BBC political discussion programme Question Time, Swinson confirmed that she would put her name forward in the forthcoming contest.
On 22 July 2019, Swinson was elected the first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 (62.8%) votes, gaining a clear victory over Sir Ed Davey, with 28,021 votes. She was the first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s. Under her leadership, the party's candidate and Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Jane Dodds won the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, following a "remain alliance" in which Change UK, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party agreed not to stand candidates. The party's membership also rose to a record 115,000+ members, with many party supporters attributing this rise to what they called "the Swinson surge".
In her first Leader's Speech to the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference, on 17 September 2019, Swinson said that Boris Johnson "claims he can negotiate a Brexit deal in a month. I wouldn't hold out much hope: yesterday he couldn't negotiate where to have a press conference".
=== 2019 election campaign ===
Swinson campaigned on a platform of revoking Article 50 if the Liberal Democrats formed the government. The policy proved to be controversial with both Remain and Leave voters, who criticised it as undemocratic. Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was "a candidate to be prime minister", and suggesting her party could win a majority. However, poll ratings for the party were poor and Swinson's personal ratings declined throughout the campaign.
During the campaign, Swinson clashed with Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland on the subject of nuclear weapons. Asked if she would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, Swinson replied simply "yes". Sturgeon commented that "It's sickening to hear this question asked and answered as if it's some kind of virility test and without any context... Using nuclear weapons would mean killing millions of people." Swinson was subject to a fake news story in which she was accused of 'hunting squirrels'. First Draft News, an organisation that seeks to identify online misinformation, found that the claim originated from a doctored video clip, with a spokesperson for the organisation warning that the propagation of false stories such as this were leading to the "gentle erosion of trust".
In November 2019, Swinson also was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland. Along with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie, Swinson was accused of supporting austerity. The student said "People are dying here, they’re in poverty, because of what you’ve done on austerity". The altercation was featured heavily on British news outlets. Afterwards the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed the party "does not have a problem attracting young voters."
Swinson’s campaign was reported to be funded by companies selling puberty blockers, a medication with significant uncertainties around long-term adverse health effects. In December 2019, it was reported that a pharmaceutical firm marketing drugs to delay puberty had donated £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats. When questioned about her beliefs on sex and gender, Swinson replied that she didn't "think things are as binary as they are often presented”.
Swinson ceased to be leader on 13 December 2019, when in the general election she lost her own seat in parliament to the SNP's Amy Callaghan. The party's rules disqualified her from continuing as its leader. She had led the party for 144 days. As well as losing seats, the Liberal Democrats failed to make predicted gains. An internal party review said that their election campaign was worsened by "an inexperienced inner circle" around Swinson. It said that voters who were neither fervently leave nor remain were "effectively ignored" by her promise to revoke Article 50. On 27 August 2020, Sir Ed Davey won the leadership election to succeed her.
== Later career ==
In July 2020, Swinson accepted a position as visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management in Bedfordshire. In September 2020, she became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE).
== Personal life ==
On 13 May 2011, Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MP Duncan Hames. The couple's first child, Andrew, was born in December 2013. A second son, Gabriel, was born in June 2018. Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023.
Swinson completed the Loch Ness Marathon in 2007, the 2011 London Marathon and the inaugural Stirling Scottish Marathon in 2017. Through this, she has raised money for the Anaphylaxis Campaign and Bloodwise. She ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March 2019 in memory of her father, who had died of blood cancer the previous year.
Having a peanut allergy, Swinson sustained anaphylactic shock in May 2013 after eating a biscuit containing nuts in Glasgow. She collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration of adrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital.
Swinson was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 New Year Honours for political and public service. On receiving the honour, Swinson said she was privileged "to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country".
Swinson is a humanist and is a member of the humanist charity Humanists UK. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Magic_(film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Journey_(film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_in_the_Stone_(1963_film) | Summer Magic (film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Incredible Journey (film), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Sword in the Stone (1963 film) | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University | Yale University | Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution.
Yale was established as the Collegiate School in 1701 by Congregationalist clergy of the Connecticut Colony. Originally focused on theology and sacred languages, the school's curriculum expanded to include humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded to include graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first PhD in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew rapidly after 1890 due to the expansion of the physical campus and its scientific research programs.
Yale is organized into fifteen constituent schools, including the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Yale Law School. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each school's faculty oversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus in downtown New Haven, the university owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus in West Haven, and forests and nature preserves throughout New England. As of 2025, Yale's endowment was valued at $44.1 billion, making it the third-largest among all educational institutions and the second-largest among private universities. The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States. Student athletes compete in intercollegiate sports as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I Ivy League conference.
As of October 2025, 72 Nobel laureates, 5 Fields medalists, 4 Abel Prize laureates, and 3 Turing Award winners have been affiliated with Yale University. Yale alumni include 5 U.S. presidents, 10 Founding Fathers, 19 U.S. Supreme Court justices, 31 living billionaires, 54 college founders and presidents, as well as numerous heads of state, cabinet members, and governors. The university’s community also includes hundreds of members of Congress, U.S. diplomats, 96 MacArthur Fellows, 263 Rhodes Scholars, 123 Marshall Scholars, 81 Gates Cambridge Scholars, 102 Guggenheim Fellows, and 9 Mitchell Scholars. Current Yale faculty include 73 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 200 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Over 170 Yale alumni have competed in the Olympic games and have won over 110 medals.
== History ==
=== Early history of Yale College ===
==== Origins ====
Yale traces its beginnings to "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School", a would-be charter passed in New Haven by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9, 1701. The Act aimed to establish an institution for the education of ministers and lay leaders. Soon after, a group of ten Congregational ministers, Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather (nephew of Increase Mather), Rev. James Noyes II (son of James Noyes), James Pierpont, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb, and Timothy Woodbridge, all Harvard alumni, met in the study of Reverend Samuel Russell, in Branford, to donate books to form the school's library. The group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as "The Founders".
Known from its origin as the "Collegiate School", the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived in Killingworth. The school moved to Saybrook in 1703, when the first treasurer of Yale, Nathaniel Lynde, donated land and a building. In 1716, it moved to New Haven.
Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad in Church polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School in the hope it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way Harvard had not. Rev. Jason Haven, minister at the First Church and Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, had been considered for the presidency on account of his orthodox theology and "Neatness dignity and purity of Style [which] surpass those of all that have been mentioned", but was passed over due to his "very Valetudinary and infirm State of Health".
==== Naming and development ====
In 1718, at the behest of either Rector Samuel Andrew or the colony's Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, Cotton Mather contacted the Boston-born businessman Elihu Yale to ask for money to construct a new building for the college. Through the persuasion of Jeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune in Madras while working for the East India Company as the first president of Fort St. George, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum of money. Cotton Mather suggested the school change its name to "Yale College". The name Yale is the Anglicized spelling of the Welsh name Iâl, which had been used for the family estate at Plas yn Iâl, near Llandegla, Wales.
Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced 180 prominent intellectuals to donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology. It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Locke's works and developed his "new divinity". In 1722, the rector and six friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced they had given up Calvinism, become Arminians, and joined the Church of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for the Anglican faith. Thomas Clapp became president in 1745, and while he attempted to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy, did not close the library. Other students found Deist books in the library.
==== Curriculum ====
Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and is organized into a social system of residential colleges.
Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—the Great Awakening and Enlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidents Thomas Clap and Ezra Stiles. They were instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum while dealing with wars, student tumults, graffiti, "irrelevance" of curricula, desperate need for endowment and disagreements with the Connecticut legislature.
Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regarded Hebrew as a classical language, along with Greek and Latin, and essential for study of the Old Testament in the original. Reverend Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in Hebrew as a vehicle for studying ancient Biblical texts in their original language, requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study it) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase אורים ותמים (Urim and Thummim) on the Yale seal. A 1746 graduate of Yale, Stiles came to the college with experience in education, having played an integral role in founding Brown University. Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduate Edmund Fanning, secretary to the British general in command of the occupation, intervened and the college was saved. In 1803, Fanning was granted an honorary degree LL.D.
==== Students ====
As the only college in Connecticut from 1701 to 1823, Yale educated the sons of the elite. Punishable offenses included cardplaying, tavern-going, destruction of college property, and acts of disobedience. Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tutor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal.
The emphasis on classics gave rise to private student societies, open only by invitation, which arose as forums for discussions of scholarship, literature and politics. The first were debating societies: Crotonia in 1738, Linonia in 1753 and Brothers in Unity in 1768. Linonia and Brothers in Unity continue to exist; commemorations to them can be found with names given to campus structures, like Brothers in Unity Courtyard in Branford College.
=== 19th century ===
The Yale Report of 1828 was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, math and science. Unlike higher education in Europe, there was no national curriculum for U.S. colleges and universities. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for innovation. At the same time, they realized a significant portion of students and prospective students demanded a classical background. The report meant the classics would not be abandoned. During this period, institutions experimented with changes in the curriculum, often resulting in a dual-track curriculum. In the decentralized environment of U.S. higher education, balancing change with tradition was a common challenge. A group of professors at Yale and New Haven Congregationalist ministers articulated a conservative response to the changes brought by Victorian culture. They concentrated on developing a person possessed of religious values strong enough to sufficiently resist temptations from within, yet flexible enough to adjust to the 'isms' (professionalism, materialism, individualism, and consumerism) tempting them from without. William Graham Sumner, professor from 1872 to 1909, taught in the emerging disciplines of economics and sociology to overflowing classrooms. Sumner bested President Noah Porter, who disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into its traditions of classical education. Porter objected to Sumner's use of a textbook by Herbert Spencer that espoused agnostic materialism because it might harm students.
Until 1887, the legal name of the university was "The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven". In 1887, under an act passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed "Yale University".
==== Sports and debate ====
The Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale (Yale 1773) was the archetype of the Yale ideal in the early 19th century: a manly yet aristocratic scholar, well-versed in knowledge and sports, and a patriot who "regretted" that he "had but one life to lose" for his country. Western painter Frederic Remington (Yale 1900) was an artist whose heroes gloried in the combat and tests of strength in the Wild West. The fictional, turn-of-the-20th-century Yale man Frank Merriwell embodied this same heroic ideal without racial prejudice, and his fictional successor Dink Stover in the novel Stover at Yale (1912) questioned the business mentality that had become prevalent at the school. Increasingly students turned to athletic stars as their heroes, especially since winning the big game became the goal of the student body, the alumni, and the team itself.
Along with Harvard and Princeton, Yale students rejected British concepts about 'amateurism' and constructed athletic programs that were uniquely American. The Harvard–Yale football rivalry began in 1875. Between 1892, when Harvard and Yale met in one of the first intercollegiate debates, and in 1909 (year of the first Triangular Debate of Harvard/Yale/Princeton) the rhetoric, symbolism, and metaphors used in athletics were used to frame these debates. Debates were covered on front pages of college newspapers and emphasized in yearbooks, and team members received the equivalent of athletic letters for their jackets. There were rallies to send off teams to matches, but they never attained the broad appeal athletics enjoyed. One reason may be that debates do not have a clear winner, because scoring is subjective. With late 19th-century concerns about the impact of modern life on the body, athletics offered hope that neither the individual nor society was coming apart.
In 1909–10, football faced a crisis resulting from the failure of the reforms of 1905–06, which sought to solve the problem of serious injuries. There was a mood of alarm and mistrust, and, while the crisis was developing, the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton developed a project to reform the sport and forestall possible radical changes forced by government. Presidents Arthur Hadley of Yale, A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard, and Woodrow Wilson of Princeton worked to develop moderate reforms to reduce injuries. Their attempts, however, were reduced by rebellion against the rules committee and formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association. While the big three had attempted to operate independently of the majority, the changes pushed did reduce injuries.
==== Expansion ====
Starting with the addition of the Yale School of Medicine in 1810, the college expanded gradually, establishing the Yale Divinity School in 1822, Yale Law School in 1822, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1847, the now-defunct Sheffield Scientific School in 1847, and the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1869. In 1887, under the presidency of Timothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed to Yale University, and the former name was applied only to the undergraduate college. The university would continue to expand into the 20th and 21st centuries, adding the Yale School of Music in 1894, the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in 1900, the Yale School of Public Health in 1915, the Yale School of Architecture in 1916, the Yale School of Nursing 1923, the Yale School of Drama in 1955, the Yale School of Management in 1976, and the Jackson School of Global Affairs in 2022. The Sheffield Scientific School would also reorganize its relationship with the university to teach only undergraduate courses.
Expansion caused controversy about Yale's new roles. Noah Porter, a moral philosopher, was president from 1871 to 1886. During an age of expansion in higher education, Porter resisted the rise of the new research university, claiming an eager embrace of its ideals would corrupt undergraduate education. Historian George Levesque argues Porter was not a simple-minded reactionary, uncritically committed to tradition, but a principled and selective conservative. Levesque says he did not endorse everything old or reject everything new; rather, he sought to apply long-established ethical and pedagogical principles to a changing culture. Levesque concludes, noting he may have misunderstood some of the challenges, but he correctly anticipated the enduring tensions that have accompanied the emergence of the modern university.
=== 20th century ===
==== Medicine ====
Milton Winternitz led the Yale School of Medicine as its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about "social medicine" and the study of humans in their environment. He established the "Yale System" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the psychiatry department and built new buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, lasted only a few years before resentful antisemitic colleagues drove him to resign.
==== Faculty ====
Before World War II, most elite university faculties counted among their numbers few, if any, Jews, blacks, women, or other minorities; Yale was no exception. By 1980, this condition had been altered dramatically, as numerous members of those groups held faculty positions. Almost all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—and some members of other faculties—teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually.
==== Women ====
In 1793, Lucinda Foote passed the entrance exams for Yale College, but was rejected by the president on the basis of her gender. Women studied at Yale from 1892, in graduate-level programs at the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The first seven women to earn PhDs received their degrees in 1894: Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Cornelia H. B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers, Margaretta Palmer, Mary Augusta Scott, Laura Johnson Wylie, and Charlotte Fitch Roberts. There is a portrait of them in Sterling Memorial Library, painted by Brenda Zlamany.
In 1966, Yale began discussions with its sister school Vassar College about merging to foster coeducation at the undergraduate level. Vassar, then all-female and part of the Seven Sisters—elite higher education schools that served as sister institutions to the Ivy League when nearly all Ivy League institutions still only admitted men—tentatively accepted, but then declined the invitation. Both schools introduced coeducation independently in 1969. Amy Solomon was the first woman to register as a Yale undergraduate; she was the first woman at Yale to join an undergraduate society, St. Anthony Hall. The undergraduate class of 1973 was the first to have women starting from freshman year; all undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall.
A decade into co-education, student assault and harassment by faculty became the impetus for the trailblazing lawsuit Alexander v. Yale. In the 1970s, a group of students and a faculty member sued Yale for its failure to curtail sexual harassment, especially by male faculty. The case was partly built from a 1977 report authored by plaintiff Ann Olivarius, "A report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus". This case was the first to use Title IX to argue and establish that sexual harassment of female students can be considered illegal sex discrimination. The plaintiffs were Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price, and Lisa E. Stone. They were joined by Yale classics professor John "Jack" J. Winkler. The lawsuit, brought partly by Catharine MacKinnon, alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by faculty, including Keith Brion, professor of flute and director of bands, political science professor Raymond Duvall, English professor Michael Cooke, and coach of the field hockey team, Richard Kentwell. While unsuccessful in the courts, the legal reasoning changed the landscape of sex discrimination law and resulted in the establishment of Yale's Grievance Board and Women's Center. In 2011 a Title IX complaint was filed against Yale by students and graduates, including editors of Yale's feminist magazine Broad Recognition, alleging the university had a hostile sexual climate. In response, the university formed a Title IX steering committee to address complaints of sexual misconduct. Afterwards, universities and colleges throughout the U.S. also established sexual harassment grievance procedures.
==== Social class ====
Yale instituted policies in the early 20th century designed to maintain the proportion of white Protestants from notable families in the student body (see numerus clausus) and eliminated such preferences, beginning with the class of 1970.
=== 21st century ===
In 2006, Yale and Peking University (PKU) established a Joint Undergraduate Program in Beijing, an exchange program allowing Yale students to spend a semester living and studying with PKU honor students. In July 2012, the Yale University-PKU Program ended due to weak participation.
In 2007 outgoing Yale President Rick Levin characterized Yale's institutional priorities: "First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders."
Also in 2007, the university purchased the 137-acre (0.55 km2) former Bayer campus in West Haven and Orange, Connecticut, including 17 buildings. The new Yale West Campus focuses on biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and other life sciences research.
In 2009, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair picked Yale as one location—the others being Britain's Durham University and Universiti Teknologi Mara—for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's United States Faith and Globalization Initiative. As of 2009, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo is the director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and teaches an undergraduate seminar, "Debating Globalization". As of 2009, former presidential candidate and DNC chair Howard Dean teaches a residential college seminar, "Understanding Politics and Politicians". Also in 2009, an alliance was formed among Yale, University College London, and both schools' affiliated hospital complexes to conduct research focused on the direct improvement of patient care—a field known as translational medicine. President Richard Levin noted that Yale has hundreds of other partnerships across the world, but "no existing collaboration matches the scale of the new partnership with UCL". In August 2013, a new partnership with the National University of Singapore led to the opening of Yale-NUS College in Singapore, a joint effort to create a new liberal arts college in Asia featuring a curriculum including Western and Asian traditions.
In 2017, having been suggested for decades, Yale University renamed Calhoun College, named for slave owner, anti-abolitionist, and white supremacist Vice President John C. Calhoun. It is now Hopper College, after Grace Hopper.
In 2019, Yale was one of several universities involved in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.
In 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests, the #CancelYale tag was used on social media to demand that Elihu Yale's name be removed from Yale University. Much of the support originated from right-wing pundits such as Mike Cernovich and Ann Coulter, who intended to satirize what they perceived as the excesses of cancel culture. Yale spent most of his professional career in the employ of the East India Company (EIC), serving as the governor of the Presidency of Fort St. George in modern-day Chennai. The EIC, including Yale himself, was involved in the Indian Ocean slave trade, though the extent of Yale's involvement in slavery remains debated.
His singularly large donation led critics to argue Yale University relied on money derived from slavery for its first scholarships and endowments.
In 2020, the U.S. Justice Department sued Yale for alleged discrimination against Asian and white candidates, through affirmative action admission policies. In 2021, under the new Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew the lawsuit. The group, Students for Fair Admissions, later won a similar lawsuit against Harvard.
In April 2024, Yale students joined other campuses across the United States in protests against the Gaza war. The student protestors demanded that Yale University divest from military weapons companies with ties to Israel's war on Gaza. Over 50 people were arrested at protests in and around Beinecke Plaza, and protests continued during the summer and in the new academic year starting September 2024. Undergraduate students "overwhelmingly" voted in a December referendum to call for divestment.
In July 2025 Russian authorities declared Yale University to be an "undesirable" organization, banning its activities in the country. According to the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, the institution’s activities are aimed at "violating the territorial integrity of Russia" and "destabilizing the socio-economic and political situation".
==== Alumni in politics ====
The Boston Globe wrote in 2002 that "if there's one school that can lay claim to educating the nation's top national leaders over the past three decades, it's Yale". Yale alumni were represented on the Democratic or Republican ticket in every U.S. presidential election between 1972 and 2004. Yale-educated presidents since the end of the Vietnam War include Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and major-party nominees include Hillary Clinton (2016), John Kerry (2004), Joseph Lieberman (vice president, 2000), and Sargent Shriver (vice president, 1972). Other alumni who have made serious bids for the presidency include Amy Klobuchar (2020), Tom Steyer (2020), Ben Carson (2016), Howard Dean (2004), Gary Hart (1984 and 1988), Paul Tsongas (1992), Pat Robertson (1988) and Jerry Brown (1976, 1980, 1992).
Several explanations have been offered for Yale's representation since the end of the Vietnam War. Sources note the spirit of campus activism that has existed at Yale since the 1960s, and the intellectual influence of Reverend William Sloane Coffin on future candidates. Yale President Levin attributes the run to Yale's focus on creating "a laboratory for future leaders", an institutional priority that began during the tenure of Yale Presidents Alfred Whitney Griswold and Kingman Brewster. Richard H. Brodhead, former dean of Yale College and now president of Duke University, stated: "We do give very significant attention to orientation to the community in our admissions, and there is a very strong tradition of volunteerism at Yale". Yale historian Gaddis Smith notes "an ethos of organized activity" at Yale during the 20th century that led Kerry to lead the Yale Political Union's Liberal Party, George Pataki the Conservative Party, and Lieberman to manage the Yale Daily News. Camille Paglia points to a history of networking and elitism: "It has to do with a web of friendships and affiliations built up in school". CNN suggests that George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for the "son and grandson of alumni", and for a "member of a politically influential family". Elisabeth Bumiller and James Fallows credit the culture of community that exists between students, faculty, and administration, which downplays self-interest and reinforces commitment to others.
During the 1988 presidential election, George H. W. Bush (Yale '48) derided Michael Dukakis for having "foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique". When challenged on the distinction between Dukakis's Harvard connection and his Yale background, he said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was "so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it" and said Yale did not share Harvard's reputation for "liberalism and elitism". In 2004 Howard Dean stated, "In some ways, I consider myself separate from the other three (Yale) candidates of 2004. Yale changed so much between the class of '68 and the class of '71. My class was the first class to have women in it; it was the first class to have a significant effort to recruit African Americans. It was an extraordinary time, and in that span of time is the change of an entire generation".
== Administration and organization ==
=== Leadership ===
The President and Fellows of Yale College, also known as the Yale Corporation, or board of trustees, is the governing body of the university and consists of thirteen standing committees with separate responsibilities outlined in the by-laws. The corporation has 19 members: three ex officio members, ten successor trustees, and six elected alumni fellows. The university has three major academic components: Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the twelve professional schools.
Yale's former president Richard C. Levin was, at the time, one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a 2008 salary of $1.5 million. Yale's succeeding president Peter Salovey ranks 40th with a 2020 salary of $1.16 million.
The Yale Provost's Office and similar executive positions have launched several women into prominent university executive positions. In 1977, Provost Hanna Holborn Gray was appointed interim president of Yale and later went on to become president of the University of Chicago, being the first woman to hold either position at each respective school. In 1994, Provost Judith Rodin became the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2002, Provost Alison Richard became the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge. In 2003, the dean of the Divinity School, Rebecca Chopp, was appointed president of Colgate University and later went on to serve as the president of Swarthmore College in 2009, and then the first female chancellor of the University of Denver in 2014. In 2004, Provost Dr. Susan Hockfield became the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2004, Dean of the Nursing school, Catherine Gilliss, was appointed the dean of Duke University's School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs. In 2007, Deputy Provost H. Kim Bottomly was named president of Wellesley College.
Similar examples for men who have served in Yale leadership positions can also be found. In 2004, Dean of Yale College Richard H. Brodhead was appointed as the president of Duke University. In 2008, Provost Andrew Hamilton was confirmed to be the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford.
=== Staff and labor unions ===
Yale University staff are represented by several different unions. Clerical and technical workers are represented by Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are represented by Local 35, both of the same union affiliate UNITE HERE. Unlike similar institutions, Yale has consistently refused to recognize its graduate student union, Local 33 (another affiliate of UNITE HERE), citing claims that the union's elections were undemocratic and how graduate students are not employees; the move to not recognize the union has been criticized by the American Federation of Teachers. In addition, officers of the Yale University Police Department are represented by the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which affiliated in 2005 with the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees. Yale security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010, even though the Yale administration contested the election. In October 2014, after deliberation, Yale security decided to form a new union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, which has since represented the campus security officers.
Yale has a history of difficult and prolonged labor negotiations, often culminating in strikes. There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, and The New York Times wrote that Yale has a reputation as having the worst record of labor tension of any university in the U.S. Moreover, Yale has been accused by the AFL–CIO of failing to treat workers with respect, as well as not renewing contracts with professors over involvement in campus labor issues. Yale has responded to strikes with claims over mediocre union participation and the benefits of their contracts.
== Campus ==
Yale's central campus in downtown New Haven covers 260 acres (1.1 km2) and comprises its main, historic campus and a medical campus adjacent to the Yale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university holds 500 acres (2.0 km2) of athletic facilities, including the Yale Golf Course. In 2008, Yale purchased the 17-building, 136-acre (0.55 km2) former Bayer HealthCare complex in West Haven, Connecticut, the buildings of which are now used as laboratory and research space. Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the largest of which is the 7,840-acre (31.7 km2) Yale-Myers Forest in Connecticut's Quiet Corner—and nature preserves including Horse Island.
Yale is noted for its largely Collegiate Gothic campus as well as several iconic modern buildings commonly discussed in architectural history survey courses: Louis Kahn's Yale Art Gallery and Center for British Art, Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges, and Paul Rudolph's Art & Architecture Building. Yale also owns and has restored many noteworthy 19th-century mansions along Hillhouse Avenue, which was considered the most beautiful street in America by Charles Dickens when he visited the United States in the 1840s. In 2011, Travel + Leisure listed the Yale campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States.
Many of Yale's buildings were constructed in the Collegiate Gothic architecture style from 1917 to 1931, financed largely by Edward S. Harkness, including the Yale Drama School. Stone sculpture built into the walls of the buildings portray contemporary college personalities, such as a writer, an athlete, a tea-drinking socialite, and a student who has fallen asleep while reading. Similarly, the decorative friezes on the buildings depict contemporary scenes, like a policemen chasing a robber and arresting a prostitute (on the wall of the Law School), or a student relaxing with a mug of beer and a cigarette. The architect, James Gamble Rogers, faux-aged these buildings by splashing the walls with acid, deliberately breaking their leaded glass windows and repairing them in the style of the Middle Ages, and creating niches for decorative statuary but leaving them empty to simulate loss or theft over the ages. In fact, the buildings merely simulate Middle Ages architecture, for though they appear to be constructed of solid stone blocks in the authentic manner, most actually have steel framing as was commonly used in 1930. One exception is Harkness Tower, 216 feet (66 m) tall, which was originally a free-standing stone structure. It was reinforced in 1964 to allow the installation of the Yale Memorial Carillon.
Other examples of the Gothic style are on the Old Campus by architects like Henry Austin, Charles C. Haight and Russell Sturgis. Several are associated with members of the Vanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall, Phelps Hall, St. Anthony Hall (a commission for member Frederick William Vanderbilt), the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, dormitories for the Sheffield Scientific School (the engineering and sciences school at Yale until 1956) and elements of Silliman College, the largest residential college.
The oldest building on campus, Connecticut Hall (built in 1750), is in the Georgian style. Georgian-style buildings erected from 1929 to 1933 include Timothy Dwight College, Pierson College, and Davenport College, except the latter's east, York Street façade, which was constructed in the Gothic style to coordinate with adjacent structures.
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is one of the largest buildings in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library includes a six-story above-ground tower of book stacks, filled with 180,000 volumes, that is surrounded by large translucent Vermont marble panels and a steel and granite truss. The panels act as windows and subdue direct sunlight while also diffusing the light in warm hues throughout the interior. Near the library is a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that are said to represent time (the pyramid), the sun (the circle), and chance (the cube). The library is located near the center of the university in Hewitt Quadrangle, which is now more commonly referred to as "Beinecke Plaza".
Alumnus Eero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect of such notable structures as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Dulles International Airport Main Terminal, Bell Labs Holmdel Complex and the CBS Building in Manhattan, designed Ingalls Rink, dedicated in 1959, as well as the residential colleges Ezra Stiles and Morse. These latter were modeled after the medieval Italian hill town of San Gimignano—a prototype chosen for the town's pedestrian-friendly milieu and fortress-like stone towers. These tower forms at Yale act in counterpoint to the college's many Gothic spires and Georgian cupolas.
The athletic field complex is partially in New Haven, and partially in West Haven.
=== Notable nonresidential campus buildings ===
Notable nonresidential campus buildings and landmarks include Battell Chapel, Beinecke Rare Book Library, Harkness Tower, Humanities Quadrangle, Ingalls Rink, Kline Biology Tower, Osborne Memorial Laboratories, Payne Whitney Gymnasium, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Sterling Hall of Medicine, Sterling Law Buildings, Sterling Memorial Library, Woolsey Hall, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale Art & Architecture Building, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London.
Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called "tombs") were built to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented: Berzelius, Donn Barber in an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910); Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in a Greek Ionic style (erected in 1901); Elihu, architect unknown but built in a Colonial style (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century); Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, early Victorian style (built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged to Benedict Arnold); Manuscript Society, King-lui Wu with Dan Kiley responsible for landscaping and Josef Albers for the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in a mid-century modern style; Scroll and Key, Richard Morris Hunt in a Moorish- or Islamic-inspired Beaux-Arts style (erected 1869–70); Skull and Bones, possibly Alexander Jackson Davis or Henry Austin in an Egypto-Doric style utilizing Brownstone (in 1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 the Neo-Gothic towers in rear garden were completed); St. Elmo, (former tomb) Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; and Wolf's Head, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic.
=== Sustainability ===
Yale's Office of Sustainability develops and implements sustainability practices at Yale. Yale is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. As part of this commitment, the university allocates renewable energy credits to offset some of the energy used by residential colleges. Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification. Yale was listed as a Campus Sustainability Leader on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2008, and received a "B+" grade overall. Yale is a member of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium, through which it has committed to best-practice sharing and the ongoing exchange of campus sustainability solutions along with other member institutions.
Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven
Marsh Botanical Garden
Yale Sustainable Food Program Farm
=== Relationship with New Haven ===
Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in the City of New Haven, and has often buoyed the city's economy and communities. Yale, however, has consistently opposed paying a tax on its academic property. Yale's Art Galleries, along with many other university resources, are free and openly accessible. Yale also funds the New Haven Promise program, paying full tuition for eligible students from New Haven public schools.
==== Town–gown relations ====
Yale has a complicated relationship with its home city; for example, thousands of students volunteer every year in myriad community organizations, but city officials, who decry Yale's exemption from local property taxes, have long pressed the university to do more to help. Under President Levin, Yale has financially supported many of New Haven's efforts to reinvigorate the city. Evidence suggests that the town and gown relationships are mutually beneficial. Still, the economic power of the university increased dramatically with its financial success amid a decline in the local economy.
==== Campus safety ====
Several campus safety strategies have been pioneered at Yale. The first campus police force was founded at Yale in 1894, when the university contracted city police officers to exclusively cover the campus. Later hired by the university, the officers were originally brought in to quell unrest between students and city residents and curb destructive student behavior. In addition to the Yale Police Department, a variety of safety services are available including blue phones, a safety escort, and 24-hour shuttle service.
In the 1970s and 1980s, poverty and violent crime rose in New Haven, dampening Yale's student and faculty recruiting efforts. Between 1990 and 2006, New Haven's crime rate fell by half, helped by a community policing strategy by the New Haven Police and Yale's campus became the safest among peer schools.
In 2004, the national non-profit watchdog group Security on Campus filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, accusing Yale of under-reporting rape and sexual assaults.
== Academics ==
=== Admissions ===
Undergraduate admission to Yale College is considered "most selective" by U.S. News. In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students to the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.46%. 98% of students graduate within six years. Yale's most selective graduate schools are: the Law School (4%), School of Medicine (5%), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (5.7% - only for PhD admissions), School of Art (6%), School of Music (10%), School of Architecture (15%), and Divinity School (15%). Yale Divinity School is notable for being the most selective institution for the study of religion in the world.
Through its program of need-based financial aid, Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and the university is need-blind for both domestic and international applicants. Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to the university, and the average need-based aid grant for the Class of 2017 was $46,395. 15% of Yale College students are expected to have no parental contribution, and about 50% receive some form of financial aid. About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation, with an average debt of $13,000 among borrowers. For 2019, Yale ranked second in enrollment of recipients of the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship (140 scholars).
Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 39% are ethnic minority U.S. citizens (19% are underrepresented minorities), and 10.5% are international students. 55% attended public schools and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools, and 97% of students were in the top 10% of their high school class. Every year, Yale College also admits a small group of non-traditional students through the Eli Whitney Students Program.
=== Collections ===
Yale University Library, which holds over 15 million volumes, is the second-largest university collection in the United States. The main library, Sterling Memorial Library, contains about 4 million volumes, and other holdings are dispersed at subject and location libraries.
Rare books are found in several Yale collections. The Beinecke Rare Book Library has a large collection of rare books and manuscripts. The Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library includes important historical medical texts, including an impressive collection of rare books, as well as historical medical instruments. The Lewis Walpole Library contains the largest collection of 18th‑century British literary works. The Elizabethan Club, technically a private organization, makes its Elizabethan folios and first editions available to qualified researchers through Yale.
Yale's museum collections are also of international stature. The Yale University Art Gallery, the country's first university-affiliated art museum, contains more than 200,000 works, including Old Masters and important collections of modern art, in the Swartwout and Kahn buildings. The latter, Louis Kahn's first large-scale American work (1953), was renovated and reopened in December 2006. The Yale Center for British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK, grew from a gift of Paul Mellon and is housed in another Kahn-designed building.
The Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and the natural environment.
The Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, affiliated with the Yale School of Music, is perhaps the least-known of Yale's collections because its hours of opening are restricted.
The museums once housed the artifacts brought to the United States from Peru by Yale history professor Hiram Bingham in his Yale-financed expedition to Machu Picchu in 1912—when the removal of such artifacts was legal. The artifacts were restored to Peru in 2012.
=== Rankings and reputation ===
The U.S. News & World Report ranked Yale fifth among U.S. national universities for 2025. Yale University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
The university was ranked 21st in the QS World University Rankings 2026.
In 2026, it was ranked 2nd among the world’s top universities by Time magazine and Statista.
=== Faculty, research, and intellectual traditions ===
Yale is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities—Very high research activity". The National Science Foundation ranked Yale 15th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.16 billion.
Yale's current faculty include 67 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 187 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source of doctoral degree recipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League. It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh) baccalaureate source (after normalization for the number of graduates) of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel, Fields, Turing prizes, or membership in National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, or National Academy of Medicine).
Yale's English and Comparative Literature departments were part of the New Criticism movement. Of the New Critics, Robert Penn Warren, W.K. Wimsatt, and Cleanth Brooks were all Yale faculty. Later, the Yale Comparative literature department became a center of American deconstruction. Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, taught at the department of comparative literature from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Several other Yale faculty members were also associated with deconstruction, forming the so-called "Yale School". These included Paul de Man who taught in the Departments of Comparative Literature and French, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey Hartman (both taught in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature), and Harold Bloom (English), whose theoretical position was always somewhat specific, and who ultimately took a very different path from the rest of this group. Yale's history department has also originated important intellectual trends. Historians C. Vann Woodward and David Brion Davis are credited with beginning in the 1960s and 1970s an important stream of southern historians; likewise, David Montgomery, a labor historian, advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Yale's Music School and department fostered the growth of Music Theory in the latter half of the 20th century. The Journal of Music Theory was founded there in 1957; Allen Forte and David Lewin were influential teachers and scholars.
Since the late 1960s, Yale produces social sciences and policy research through its Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS).
In addition to eminent faculty members, Yale research relies heavily on the presence of roughly 1200 Postdocs from various national and international origin working in the multiple laboratories in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional schools of the university. The university progressively recognized this working force with the recent creation of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and the Yale Postdoctoral Association.
== Campus life ==
Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in the graduate and professional schools. Undergraduates, or Yale College students, come from a variety of ethnic, national, socioeconomic, and personal backgrounds. Of the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% are non‑U.S. citizens, while 54% went to public high schools. The median family income of Yale students is $192,600, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 16% from the bottom 60%.
=== Residential colleges ===
Yale's residential college system was established in 1933 by Edward S. Harkness, who admired the social intimacy of Oxford and Cambridge and donated significant funds to found similar colleges at Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they are dependent entities of Yale College and have limited autonomy. The colleges are led by a head and an academic dean, who reside in the college, and university faculty and affiliates constitute each college's fellowship. Colleges offer their own seminars, social events, and speaking engagements known as "Master's Teas", but do not contain programs of study or academic departments. All other undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are open to members of any college.
All undergraduates are members of a college, to which they are assigned before their freshman year, and 85 percent live in the college quadrangle or a college-affiliated dormitory. While the majority of upperclassman live in the colleges, most on-campus freshmen live on the Old Campus, the university's oldest precinct.
While Harkness' original colleges were Georgian Revival or Collegiate Gothic in style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s, Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college quadrangles are organized around a courtyard, and each has a dining hall, courtyard, library, common room, and a range of student facilities. The twelve colleges are named for important alumni or significant places in university history. In 2017, the university opened two new colleges near Science Hill.
==== Calhoun College ====
Since the 1960s, John C. Calhoun's white supremacist beliefs and pro-slavery leadership had prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially motivated church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, led to renewed calls in the summer of 2015 for Calhoun College, one of 12 residential colleges at the time, to be renamed. In July 2015 students signed a petition calling for the name change. They argued in the petition that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an "extraordinary American statesman"—he was "one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy" in the history of the United States. In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed. He described Calhoun as "a notable political theorist, a vice president to two different U.S. presidents, a secretary of war and of state, and a congressman and senator representing South Carolina". He acknowledged that Calhoun also "believed that the highest forms of civilization depend on involuntary servitude. Not only that, but he also believed that the races he thought to be inferior, black people in particular, ought to be subjected to it for the sake of their own best interests." Student activism about this issue increased in the fall of 2015, and included further protests sparked by controversy surrounding an administrator's comments on the potential positive and negative implications of students who wear Halloween costumes that are culturally sensitive. Campus-wide discussions expanded to include critical discussion of the experiences of women of color on campus, and the realities of racism in undergraduate life. The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members of Generation Snowflake.
In April 2016, Salovey announced that "despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential college explaining that it is preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's "shadow" so they will be "better prepared to rise to the challenges of the present and the future". He claimed that if they removed Calhoun's name, it would "obscure" his "legacy of slavery rather than addressing it". "Yale is part of that history" and "We cannot erase American history, but we can confront it, teach it and learn from it." One change that will be issued is the title of "master" for faculty members who serve as residential college leaders will be renamed to "head of college" due to its connotation of slavery.
Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientist Grace Hopper in February 2017. This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni. In his 2019 book Assault on American Excellence, former Dean of Yale Law School Anthony T. Kronman criticized the title and name changes and the lack of support from Salovey for the Christakises, who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with Kronman's positions.
=== Student organizations ===
In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students.
The university hosts a variety of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. The Yale Literary Magazine, founded in February 1836, is the oldest student literary magazine in the United States. Established in 1872, The Yale Record is the world's oldest college humor magazine. Newspapers include the Yale Daily News, which was first published in 1878, and the weekly Yale Herald, which was first published in 1986. The Yale Journal of Medicine & Law is a biannual magazine that explores the intersection of law and medicine.
Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 70 community service initiatives in New Haven. The Yale College Council runs several agencies that oversee campus wide activities and student services. The Yale Dramatic Association and Bulldog Productions cater to the theater and film communities, respectively. In addition, the Yale Drama Coalition serves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radio is the campus's radio station, owned and operated by students. While students used to broadcast on AM and FM frequencies, they now have an Internet-only stream.
The Yale College Council (YCC) serves as the campus's undergraduate student government. All registered student organizations are regulated and funded by a subsidiary organization of the YCC, known as the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC). The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) serves as Yale's graduate and professional student government.
The Yale Political Union (YPU) is a debate society founded in 1934 to host student discussions on a wide variety of topics. It is advised by alumni political leaders such as John Kerry and George Pataki.
The Yale International Relations Association (YIRA) functions as the umbrella organization for the university's top-ranked Model UN team. YIRA also has a Europe-based offshoot, Yale Model Government Europe, other Model UN conferences such as YMUN, YMUN Korea, YMUN Taiwan and Yale Model African Union (YMAU), the Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS), and educational programs such as the Yale International Relations Leadership Institute and Hemispheres.
The campus includes several fraternities and sororities. The campus features at least 18 a cappella groups, the most famous of which is The Whiffenpoofs, which from its founding in 1909 until 2018 was made up solely of senior men.
The Elizabethan Club, a social club, has a membership of undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff with literary or artistic interests. Membership is by invitation. Members and their guests may enter the "Lizzie's" premises for conversation and tea. The club owns first editions of a Shakespeare Folio, several Shakespeare Quartos, and a first edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, among other important literary texts.
==== Secret societies ====
Yale's secret societies include Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, Wolf's Head, Book and Snake, Elihu, Berzelius, St. Elmo, Manuscript, Brothers in Unity, Linonia, St. Anthony Hall, Shabtai, Myth and Sword, Daughters of Sovereign Government (DSG), Sphinx, Mace and Chain, ISO, Spade and Grave, and Sage and Chalice, among others. The two oldest existing honor societies are the Aurelian (1910) and the Torch Honor Society (1916).
These are akin to Harvard finals clubs, Princeton eating clubs, and senior societies at University of Pennsylvania.
=== Traditions ===
Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their "bright college years", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with "bubble pipes". ("Bright College Years", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 by Henry Durand, Class of 1881, to the tune of Die Wacht am Rhein.) Yale's student tour guides tell visitors that students consider it good luck to rub the toe of the statue of Theodore Dwight Woolsey on Old Campus; however, actual students rarely do so. In the second half of the 20th century Bladderball, a campus-wide game played with a large inflatable ball, became a popular tradition but was banned by administration due to safety concerns. In spite of administration opposition, students revived the game in 2009, 2011, and 2014.
=== Athletics ===
Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in the Ivy League Conference, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Yale athletic teams compete intercollegiately at the NCAA Division I level. Like other members of the Ivy League, Yale does not offer athletic scholarships.
Yale has numerous athletic facilities, including the Yale Bowl (the nation's first natural "bowl" stadium, and prototype for such stadiums as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl), located at The Walter Camp Field athletic complex, and the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world.
In 1970, the NCAA banned Yale from participating in all NCAA sports for two years, in reaction to Yale—against the wishes of the NCAA—playing its Jewish center Jack Langer in college games after Langer had played for Team United States at the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel with the approval of Yale President Kingman Brewster. The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years.
In 2016, the men's basketball team won the Ivy League Championship title for the first time in 54 years, earning a spot in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs beat the Baylor Bears 79–75 in the school's first-ever tournament win.
In May 2018, the men's lacrosse team defeated the Duke Blue Devils to claim their first-ever NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship, and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since the Princeton Tigers in 2001.
Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and won Olympic Games Gold Medal for men's eights in 1924 and 1956. Over 170 Yale alumni have competed in the Olympic games and have won over 110 medals.
The Yale Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1881, is the oldest collegiate sailing club in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157 years of collegiate rowing. The Gilder Boathouse is named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder '79 and her father Richard Gilder '54, who gave $4 million towards the $7.5 million project. Yale also maintains the Gales Ferry site where the heavyweight men's team trains for the Yale-Harvard Boat Race.
In 1896, Yale and Johns Hopkins played the first known ice hockey game in the United States. Since 2006, the school's ice hockey clubs have played a commemorative game.
Yale students claim to have invented Frisbee, by tossing empty Frisbie Pie Company tins.
Yale athletics are supported by the Yale Precision Marching Band. "Precision" is used here ironically; the band is a scatter-style band that runs wildly between formations rather than actually marching. The band attends every home football game and many away, as well as most hockey and basketball games throughout the winter.
Yale intramural sports are also a significant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges, fostering a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into fall, winter, and spring seasons, each of which includes about 10 different sports. About half the sports are coeducational. At the end of the year, the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup.
==== Song ====
Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such as commencement, convocation, alumni gatherings, and athletic games is the alma mater, "Bright College Years". Despite its popularity, "Boola Boola" is not the official fight song, albeit being the origin of the university's unofficial motto. The official Yale fight song, "Bulldog" was written by Cole Porter during his undergraduate days and is sung after touchdowns during a football game. Additionally, two other songs, "Down the Field" by C.W. O'Conner, and "Bingo Eli Yale", also by Cole Porter, are still sung at football games. According to College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology published in 1998, "Down the Field" ranks as the fourth-greatest fight song of all time.
==== Mascot ====
The school mascot is "Handsome Dan", the Yale bulldog, and the Yale fight song contains the refrain, "Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow". The school color, since 1894, is Yale Blue. Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889.
=== Mental health ===
Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling of student mental health on campus. Suicidal and depressed students say that Yale forced them to medically withdraw rather than provide them with academic accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in 2018 the Ruderman Family Foundation ranked Yale as having the worst mental health policies in the Ivy League.
Students at Yale say that the university's policies force them to hide their depression and avoid seeking help, for fear of being forced to leave. One prominent case was the suicide of Luchang Wang in 2015, who died by suicide after making a Facebook post saying that she needed time to deal with her mental health issues, but could not deal with being forced to medically withdraw for an entire year with an uncertain chance of being readmitted. Wang had previously withdrawn from school due to mental health issues, and was afraid of being forced to withdraw again, as a second readmission attempt would be considerably more difficult for her. A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out, and another student said that many at Yale lie to their counselors as "there's no clear standard established that says exactly what students will get involuntarily hospitalized or withdrawn for". In response, the university convened a commission to evaluate their readmission policies after a mental health withdrawal, renaming the process to "reinstatement", eliminating the $50 reapplication fee, and giving students 5–6 more days to make their decision on a mental health withdrawal.
For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length. In 2022, after a Washington Post article about their medical withdrawal policies, the school increased the number of mental health clinicians on campus from 51 to 60 as well as promised further changes. In 2023, after a lawsuit was filed against the school for what the plaintiffs described as discrimination, the university changed the name of a "medical withdrawal" to a "medical leave of absence" saying that the "leave of absence" terminology would allow students to remain on Yale's insurance while away from the school. The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus, something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing. A representative of Yale also said that the criticism of their policies "misrepresents our efforts and unwavering commitment to supporting our students, whose well-being and success are our primary focus" and that "the mental health of our students is a very, very high priority".
After the death of undergraduate student Rachael Shaw Rosenbaum by suicide, an organization called Elis for Rachael was formed, advocating for mental health-related reforms. The group has sued Yale, demanding changes.
== Notable people ==
=== Benefactors ===
Yale has had many financial supporters, but some stand out by the magnitude or timeliness of their contributions. Among those who have made large donations commemorated at the university are: Elihu Yale, Jeremiah Dummer, the Vanderbilt family, the Harkness family (Edward, Anna, and William), the Beinecke family (Edwin, Frederick, and Walter), John William Sterling, Payne Whitney, Joseph Earl Sheffield, Paul Mellon, Charles B. G. Murphy, Joseph Tsai, William K. Lanman, and Stephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led by Richard Gilder, donated $70 million in commemoration of their 50th reunion. Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, pledged a $250 million gift in 2013 to support the construction of two new residential colleges. The colleges have been named respectively in honor of Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin. A $100 million contribution by Stephen Adams enabled the Yale School of Music to become tuition-free and the Adams Center for Musical Arts to be built, while a $150 million contribution by David Geffen enabled the Yale School of Drama (renamed the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) to become tuition-free as well.
=== Notable alumni ===
Yale has produced many distinguished alumni in various fields, in both the public and private sectors. According to 2020 data, around 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, while 17% attend graduate or professional schools. Yale graduates have been recipients of 263 Rhodes Scholarships, 123 Marshall Scholarships, 67 Truman Scholarships, 21 Churchill Scholarships, and 9 Mitchell Scholarships. The university is the 2nd largest producer of Fulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its history and 89 MacArthur Fellows. The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ranked Yale fifth among research institutions producing the most 2020–2021 Fulbright Scholars. 31 living billionaires are alumni.
One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science, with many going on to serve in government and politics. Former presidents who attended for undergrad include William Howard Taft, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, while former presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton attended Yale Law School. Among vice presidents, influential antebellum era politician John C. Calhoun graduated from Yale, while JD Vance graduated from Yale Law School. Former world leaders include Italian prime minister Mario Monti, Turkish prime minister Tansu Çiller, South Korean prime minister Lee Hong-koo, Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo, German president Karl Carstens, Philippine president José Paciano Laurel, Latvian president Valdis Zatlers, Taiwanese premier Jiang Yi-huah, and Malawian president Peter Mutharika, among others. Prominent royals who graduated are Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Olympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon.
Alumni have had considerable presence in U.S. government in all three branches. On the U.S. Supreme Court, 19 justices have been alumni, including current Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh. Alumni have been U.S. Senators, including current senators Michael Bennet, Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, Sheldon Whitehouse. Current and former cabinet members include Secretaries of State John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Cyrus Vance, and Dean Acheson; U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott, Robert Rubin, Nicholas F. Brady, Steven Mnuchin, Janet Yellen, and Scott Bessent; U.S. Attorneys General Nicholas Katzenbach, Edwin Meese, John Ashcroft, and Edward H. Levi; and many others. Peace Corps founder and American diplomat Sargent Shriver and public official and urban planner Robert Moses are Yale alumni.
Yale has produced numerous award-winning authors and influential writers, like Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Sinclair Lewis and Pulitzer Prize winners Stephen Vincent Benét, Thornton Wilder, Doug Wright, and David McCullough. Academy Award winning actors, actresses, and directors include Jodie Foster, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Elia Kazan, George Roy Hill, Lupita Nyong'o, Oliver Stone, and Frances McDormand. Alumni from Yale have also made notable contributions to both music and the arts. Leading American composer from the 20th century Charles Ives, Broadway composer Cole Porter, Grammy award winner David Lang, multi-Tony Award winner Composer and Musicologist Maury Yeston, and award-winning jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer all hail from Yale. Hugo Boss Prize winner Matthew Barney, famed American sculptor Richard Serra, President Barack Obama presidential portrait painter Kehinde Wiley, MacArthur Fellows and contemporary artists Tschabalala Self, Titus Kaphar, Richard Whitten, and Sarah Sze, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and National Medal of Arts photorealist painter Chuck Close all graduated from Yale. Additional alumni include architect and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Maya Lin, Pritzker Prize winner Norman Foster, and Gateway Arch designer Eero Saarinen. Journalists and pundits include Dick Cavett, Chris Cuomo, Anderson Cooper, William F. Buckley Jr., Blake Hounshell, Nia-Malika Henderson and Fareed Zakaria.
In business, Yale has had numerous alumni and former students go on to become founders of influential business, like William Boeing (Boeing, United Airlines), Briton Hadden and Henry Luce (Time Magazine), Stephen A. Schwarzman (Blackstone Group), Frederick W. Smith (FedEx), Juan Trippe (Pan Am), Harold Stanley (Morgan Stanley), Bing Gordon (Electronic Arts), and Ben Silbermann (Pinterest). Other business people from Yale include former chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings Edward Lampert, former Time Warner president Jeffrey Bewkes, former PepsiCo chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi, sports agent Donald Dell, and investor/philanthropist Sir John Templeton,
Alumni distinguished in academia include literary critic and historian Henry Louis Gates, economists Irving Fischer, Mahbub ul Haq, and Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman; Nobel Prize in Physics laureates Ernest Lawrence and Murray Gell-Mann; Fields Medalist John G. Thompson; Human Genome Project leader and National Institutes of Health director Francis S. Collins; brain surgery pioneer Harvey Cushing; pioneering computer scientist Grace Hopper; influential mathematician and chemist Josiah Willard Gibbs; National Women's Hall of Fame inductee and biochemist Florence B. Seibert; Turing Award recipient Ron Rivest; inventors Samuel F.B. Morse and Eli Whitney; Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate John B. Goodenough; lexicographer Noah Webster; and theologians Jonathan Edwards and Reinhold Niebuhr.
In the sporting arena, alumni include baseball players Ron Darling and Craig Breslow who in the major leagues played with fellow Yale alum Ryan Lavarnway and baseball executives Theo Epstein and George Weiss; basketball players Chris Dudley, Tony Lavelli, Miye Oni and Danny Wolf, football players Calvin Hill, Gary Fenick, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and "the Father of American Football" Walter Camp; ice hockey players Chris Higgins and Olympian Helen Resor; Olympic figure skating champions Sarah Hughes and Nathan Chen; nine-time U.S. Squash men's champion Julian Illingworth; Olympic swimmer Don Schollander; Olympic rowers Josh West and Rusty Wailes; Olympic sailor Stuart McNay; Olympic runner Frank Shorter; and others. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Popp | Alexander Popp | Alexander Popp (born 4 November 1976) is a former German professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and 2003.
== Personal life ==
Popp was born in Heidelberg to parents Rainer and Jennifer, and started playing tennis at the age of 8. He was coached by Helmut Luthy, from 1994 until retirement. He holds a British passport through his mother, who was born in Wolverhampton.
== Tennis career ==
Popp turned professional in 1997 at the age of 21.
Popp's career highlights are making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon (by far his most successful tournament) in 2000 (defeating Gustavo Kuerten and Michael Chang en route), and in 2003 (defeating Jiří Novák). He also reached the fourth round in 2004, losing to the eventual runner-up in each of these three runs (Patrick Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Andy Roddick respectively), and the third round in 2005. Popp also reached the final of Newport in 2004 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 74.
In doubles, Popp made the final of Newport in 2002 (partnering Jürgen Melzer) and the semifinals of the Ho Chi Minh City championships in 2005 (partnering Jiří Vaněk).
== ATP career finals ==
=== Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) ===
=== Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up) ===
== ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals ==
=== Singles: 16 (13–3) ===
=== Doubles: 2 (2–0) ===
== Performance timeline ==
=== Singles === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium | Titanium | Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength that is resistant to corrosion in sea water, aqua regia, and chlorine.
Titanium was discovered in Cornwall, Great Britain, by William Gregor in 1791 and was named by Martin Heinrich Klaproth after the Titans of Greek mythology. The element occurs within a number of minerals, principally rutile and ilmenite, which are widely distributed in the Earth's crust and lithosphere; it is found in almost all living things, as well as bodies of water, rocks, and soils. The metal is extracted from its principal mineral ores by the Kroll and Hunter processes. The most common compound, titanium dioxide (TiO2), is a popular photocatalyst and is used in the manufacture of white pigments. Other compounds include titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), a component of smoke screens and catalysts; and titanium trichloride (TiCl3), which is used as a catalyst in the production of polypropylene.
Titanium can be alloyed with iron, aluminium, vanadium, and molybdenum, among other elements. The resulting titanium alloys are strong, lightweight, and versatile, with applications including aerospace (jet engines, missiles, and spacecraft), military, industrial processes (chemicals and petrochemicals, desalination plants, pulp, and paper), automotive, agriculture (farming), sporting goods, jewelry, and consumer electronics. Titanium is also considered one of the most biocompatible metals, leading to a range of medical applications including prostheses, orthopedic implants, dental implants, and surgical instruments.
The two most useful properties of the metal are its corrosion resistance and tensile-strength-to-density ratio, the highest of any metallic element, although resistance to tensile stress does not mean it has the highest ratio for other stresses: bulk compression, shear, and pressure wave. In its unalloyed condition, titanium is as tensile-strong as some steels, but less dense. There are two allotropic forms and five naturally occurring isotopes of this element, 46Ti through 50Ti, with 48Ti being the most abundant (73.8%).
== Characteristics ==
=== Physical properties ===
As a metal, titanium is recognized for its high strength-to-weight ratio. It is a strong metal with low density that is quite ductile (especially in an oxygen-free environment), lustrous, and metallic-white in color. Due to its relatively high melting point (1,668 °C or 3,034 °F) it has sometimes been described as a refractory metal, but this is not the case. It is paramagnetic and has fairly low electrical and thermal conductivity compared to other metals. Titanium is superconducting when cooled below its critical temperature of 0.49 K.
Commercially pure (99.2% pure) grades of titanium have ultimate tensile strength of about 434 MPa (63,000 psi), equal to that of common, low-grade steel alloys, but are less dense. Titanium is 60% denser than aluminium, but more than twice as strong as the most commonly used 6061-T6 aluminium alloy. Certain titanium alloys (e.g., Beta C) achieve tensile strengths of over 1,400 MPa (200,000 psi). However, titanium loses strength when heated above 430 °C (806 °F).
Titanium is not as hard as some grades of heat-treated steel; it is non-magnetic and a poor conductor of heat and electricity. Machining requires precautions, because the material can gall unless sharp tools and proper cooling methods are used. Like steel structures, those made from titanium have a fatigue limit that guarantees longevity in some applications.
The metal is a dimorphic allotrope of a hexagonal close packed α form that changes into a body-centered cubic (lattice) β form at 882 °C (1,620 °F). The specific heat of the α form increases dramatically as it is heated to this transition temperature but then falls and remains fairly constant for the β form regardless of temperature.
=== Chemical properties ===
Like aluminium and magnesium, the surface of titanium metal and its alloys oxidizes immediately upon exposure to air to form a thin non-porous passivation layer that protects the bulk metal from further oxidation or corrosion. When it first forms, this protective layer is only 1–2 nm thick, but it continues to grow slowly, reaching a thickness of 25 nm in four years. This layer gives titanium excellent resistance to corrosion against oxidizing acids, but it will dissolve in dilute hydrofluoric acid, hot hydrochloric acid, and hot sulfuric acid.
Titanium is capable of withstanding attack by dilute sulfuric and hydrochloric acids at room temperature, chloride solutions, and most organic acids. However, titanium is corroded by concentrated acids. Titanium burns in normal air at temperatures lower than its melting point, so melting the metal is possible only in an inert atmosphere or vacuum. At room temperature, titanium is fairly inert to halogens, but will violently combine with chlorine and bromine at 550 °C (1,022 °F) to form titanium tetrachloride and titanium tetrabromide, respectively.
Titanium readily reacts with oxygen at 1,200 °C (2,190 °F) in air, and at 610 °C (1,130 °F) in pure oxygen, forming titanium dioxide. This oxide is also formed by reaction between titanium and pure oxygen at room temperature and pressure of 25 bars (2,500 kPa). Titanium is one of the few elements that burns in pure nitrogen gas, reacting at 800 °C (1,470 °F) to form titanium nitride, which causes embrittlement.
=== Occurrence ===
Titanium is the ninth-most abundant element in Earth's crust (0.63% by mass) and the seventh-most abundant metal. It is present as oxides in most igneous rocks, in sediments derived from them, in living things, and natural bodies of water. Of the 801 types of igneous rocks analyzed by the United States Geological Survey, 784 contained titanium. Its proportion in soils is approximately 0.5–1.5%.
Common titanium-containing minerals are anatase, brookite, ilmenite, perovskite, rutile, and titanite (sphene). Akaogiite is an extremely rare mineral consisting of titanium dioxide. Of these minerals, only rutile and ilmenite have economic importance, yet even they are difficult to find in high concentrations. About 6.0 and 0.7 million tonnes of those minerals were mined in 2011, respectively. Significant titanium-bearing ilmenite deposits exist in Australia, Canada, China, India, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Ukraine. Total reserves of anatase, ilmenite, and rutile are estimated to exceed 2 billion tonnes.
The concentration of titanium is about 4 picomolar in the ocean. At 100 °C, the concentration of titanium in water is estimated to be less than 10−7 M at pH 7. The identity of titanium species in aqueous solution remains unknown because of its low solubility and the lack of sensitive spectroscopic methods, although only the 4+ oxidation state is stable in air. No evidence exists for a biological role, although rare organisms are known to accumulate high concentrations of titanium.
Titanium is contained in meteorites, and it has been detected in the Sun and in M-type stars (the coolest type) with a surface temperature of 3,200 °C (5,790 °F). Rocks brought back from the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission are composed of 12.1% TiO2. Native titanium is only found in rocks that have been exposed to pressures between roughly 2.8 to 4.0 gigapascal on Earth, but it has been identified in nanocrystals on the Moon.
=== Isotopes ===
Naturally occurring titanium is composed of five stable isotopes: 46Ti, 47Ti, 48Ti, 49Ti, and 50Ti, with 48Ti being the most abundant (73.8% natural abundance). Twenty-three radioisotopes have been characterized, the most stable of which are 44Ti with a half-life of 63 years; 45Ti, 184.8 minutes; 51Ti, 5.76 minutes; and 52Ti, 1.7 minutes. All other radioactive isotopes have half-lives less than 33 seconds, with the majority less than half a second.
The isotopes of titanium range from 39Ti to 66Ti. The primary decay mode for isotopes lighter than 46Ti is positron emission (with the exception of 44Ti, which undergoes electron capture), leading to isotopes of scandium, and the primary mode for isotopes heavier than 50Ti is beta emission, leading to isotopes of vanadium. Titanium becomes radioactive upon bombardment with deuterons, emitting mainly positrons and hard gamma rays.
== Compounds ==
The +4 oxidation state dominates titanium chemistry, but compounds in the +3 oxidation state are also numerous. Commonly, titanium adopts an octahedral coordination geometry in its complexes, but tetrahedral TiCl4 is a notable exception. Because of its high oxidation state, titanium(IV) compounds exhibit a high degree of covalent bonding.
=== Oxides, sulfides, and alkoxides ===
The most important oxide is TiO2, which exists in three important polymorphs; anatase, brookite, and rutile. All three are white diamagnetic solids, although mineral samples can appear dark, as in rutile. They adopt polymeric structures in which Ti is surrounded by six oxide ligands that link to other Ti centers.
The term titanates usually refers to titanium(IV) compounds, as represented by barium titanate (BaTiO3). With a perovskite structure, this material exhibits piezoelectric properties and is used as a transducer in the interconversion of sound and electricity. Many minerals are titanates, such as ilmenite (FeTiO3). Star sapphires and rubies get their asterism (star-forming shine) from the presence of titanium dioxide impurities.
A variety of reduced oxides (suboxides) of titanium are known, mainly reduced stoichiometries of titanium dioxide obtained by atmospheric plasma spraying. Ti3O5, described as a Ti(IV)-Ti(III) species, is a purple semiconductor produced by reduction of TiO2 with hydrogen at high temperatures, and is used industrially when surfaces need to be vapor-coated with titanium dioxide: it evaporates as pure TiO, whereas TiO2 evaporates as a mixture of oxides and deposits coatings with variable refractive index. Also known is Ti2O3, with the corundum structure, and TiO, with the rock salt structure, although often nonstoichiometric.
The alkoxides of titanium(IV), prepared by treating TiCl4 with alcohols, are colorless compounds that convert to the dioxide on reaction with water. They are industrially useful for depositing solid TiO2 via the sol-gel process. Titanium isopropoxide is used in the synthesis of chiral organic compounds via the Sharpless epoxidation.
Titanium forms a variety of sulfides, but only TiS2 has attracted significant interest. It adopts a layered structure and was used as a cathode in the development of lithium batteries. Because Ti(IV) is a "hard cation", the sulfides of titanium are unstable and tend to hydrolyze to the oxide with release of hydrogen sulfide.
=== Nitrides and carbides ===
Titanium nitride (TiN) is a refractory solid exhibiting extreme hardness, thermal/electrical conductivity, and a high melting point. TiN has a hardness equivalent to sapphire and carborundum (9.0 on the Mohs scale), and is often used to coat cutting tools, such as drill bits. It is also used as a gold-colored decorative finish and as a barrier layer in semiconductor fabrication. Titanium carbide (TiC), which is also very hard, is found in cutting tools and coatings.
=== Halides ===
Titanium tetrachloride (titanium(IV) chloride, TiCl4) is a colorless volatile liquid (commercial samples are yellowish) that, in air, hydrolyzes with spectacular emission of white clouds. Via the Kroll process, TiCl4 is used in the conversion of titanium ores to titanium metal. Titanium tetrachloride is also used to make titanium dioxide, e.g., for use in white paint. It is widely used in organic chemistry as a Lewis acid, for example in the Mukaiyama aldol condensation. In the van Arkel–de Boer process, titanium tetraiodide (TiI4) is generated in the production of high purity titanium metal.
Titanium(III) and titanium(II) also form stable chlorides. A notable example is titanium(III) chloride (TiCl3), which is used as a catalyst for production of polyolefins (see Ziegler–Natta catalyst) and a reducing agent in organic chemistry.
=== Organometallic complexes ===
Owing to the important role of titanium compounds as polymerization catalyst, compounds with Ti-C bonds have been intensively studied. The most common organotitanium complex is titanocene dichloride ((C5H5)2TiCl2). Related compounds include Tebbe's reagent and Petasis reagent. Titanium forms carbonyl complexes, e.g. (C5H5)2Ti(CO)2.
== History ==
Titanium was discovered in 1791 by the clergyman and geologist William Gregor as an inclusion of a mineral in Cornwall, Great Britain. Gregor recognized the presence of a new element in ilmenite when he found black sand by a stream and noticed the sand was attracted by a magnet. Analyzing the sand, he determined the presence of two metal oxides: iron oxide (explaining the attraction to the magnet) and 45.25% of a white metallic oxide he could not identify. Realizing that the unidentified oxide contained a metal that did not match any known element, in 1791 Gregor reported his findings in both German and French science journals: Crell's Annalen and Observations et Mémoires sur la Physique. He named this oxide manaccanite.
Around the same time, Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein produced a similar substance, but could not identify it. The oxide was independently rediscovered in 1795 by Prussian chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in rutile from Boinik (the German name of Bajmócska), a village in Hungary (now Bojničky in Slovakia).
Klaproth found that it contained a new element and named it for the Titans of Greek mythology. After hearing about Gregor's earlier discovery, he obtained a sample of manaccanite and confirmed that it contained titanium.
The currently known processes for extracting titanium from its various ores are laborious and costly; it is not possible to reduce the ore by heating with carbon (as in iron smelting) because titanium combines with the carbon to produce titanium carbide. An extraction of 95% pure titanium was achieved by Lars Fredrik Nilson and Otto Petterson. To achieve this they chlorinated titanium oxide in a carbon monoxide atmosphere with chlorine gas before reducing it to titanium metal by the use of sodium. Pure metallic titanium (99.9%) was first prepared in 1910 by Matthew A. Hunter at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by heating TiCl4 with sodium at 700–800 °C (1,292–1,472 °F) under great pressure in a batch process known as the Hunter process. Titanium metal was not used outside the laboratory until 1932 when William Justin Kroll produced it by reducing titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) with calcium. Eight years later he refined this process with magnesium and with sodium in what became known as the Kroll process. Although research continues to seek cheaper and more efficient routes, such as the FFC Cambridge process, the Kroll process is still predominantly used for commercial production.
Titanium of very high purity was made in small quantities when Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer discovered the iodide process in 1925, by reacting with iodine and decomposing the formed vapors over a hot filament to pure metal.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union pioneered the use of titanium in military and submarine applications (Alfa class, Mike class and Sierra II class) as part of programs related to the Cold War. Starting in the early 1950s, titanium came into use extensively in military aviation, particularly in high-performance jets, starting with aircraft such as the F-100 Super Sabre and Lockheed A-12 and SR-71.
Throughout the Cold War period, titanium was considered a strategic material by the U.S. government, and a large stockpile of titanium sponge (a porous form of the pure metal) was maintained by the Defense National Stockpile Center, until the stockpile was dispersed in the 2000s. Even so, the U.S. government annually allocates 15,000 metric tons of titanium sponge as potential acquisitions for the stockpile.
== Production ==
Titanium production is largely divided into three measured categories: manufacture of porous titanium metal "sponge", titanium oxide pigment, and titanium mineral concentrates used for the production of sponge, pigment, metal ingots, and other titanium products such as coatings. These concentrates are largely made up of the mineral ilmenite, but also include anatase, natural and synthetic rutile, tailings, slag, and leucoxene. As of 2024, the largest producers of titanium mineral concentrates were China, Mozambique, and South Africa.
Most of the world's titanium is produced in China. The United States Geological Survey's 2025 report on mineral commodities estimated that out of the 320,000 metric tons (310,000 long tons) of titanium sponge produced globally in 2024, 220,000 (69%) were produced in China, with the second-largest producer being Japan (which produced 55,000 metric tons in the same year, 17% of the total). Japan was the largest exporter of titanium sponge in 2024, but did not produce any titanium minerals on its own. A prior report in 2021 noted that the four leading producers of titanium sponge were China (52%), Japan (24%), Russia (16%) and Kazakhstan (7%). Russia remains the third-largest producer of titanium sponge through the efforts of the metallurgy company VSMPO-AVISMA, despite international sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Production statistics on titanium dioxide pigment are not as clear-cut, but estimates placed the maximum capacity on global pigment production at 9,800,000 metric tons (9,600,000 long tons) in 2024.
Various methods have been developed to extract and refine titanium from ore since the metal was first purified in 1910.
=== Mineral beneficiation processes ===
Several processes have been developed to extract titanium and usable titanium-containing minerals from ore. The Becher process is an industrial process used to produce synthetic rutile, a form of titanium dioxide, from the ore ilmenite by removing iron. It is not used at scale. The chloride process produces titanium tetrachloride through treatment of rutile ore with chlorine and carbon at high heat, then oxidizes the product with an oxygen flame or plasma to produce titanium dioxide. The sulfate process uses sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to leach titanium from ilmenite ore (FeTiO3), producing titanyl sulfate (TiOSO4). This sulfate is broken into two hydrates, TiO2 and H2SO4, through addition of water, and this water is removed by adding heat, which produces titanium dioxide as the end product.
=== Purification processes ===
==== Hunter process ====
The Hunter process was the first industrial process to produce pure metallic titanium. It was invented in 1910 by Matthew A. Hunter, a chemist born in New Zealand who worked in the United States. The process involves reducing titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) with sodium (Na) in a batch reactor with an inert atmosphere at a temperature of 1,000 °C. Dilute hydrochloric acid is then used to leach the salt from the product.
TiCl4(g) + 4 Na(l) → 4 NaCl(l) + Ti(s)
==== Kroll process ====
The processing of titanium metal occurs in four major steps: reduction of titanium ore into "sponge", a porous form; melting of sponge, or sponge plus a master alloy to form an ingot; primary fabrication, where an ingot is converted into general mill products such as billet, bar, plate, sheet, strip, and tube; and secondary fabrication of finished shapes from mill products.
Because it cannot be readily produced by reduction of titanium dioxide, titanium metal is obtained by reduction of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) with magnesium metal in the Kroll process. The complexity of this batch production in the Kroll process explains the relatively high market value of titanium, despite the Kroll process being less expensive than the Hunter process. To produce the TiCl4 required by the Kroll process, the dioxide is subjected to carbothermic reduction in the presence of chlorine. In this process, the chlorine gas is passed over a red-hot mixture of rutile or ilmenite in the presence of carbon. After extensive purification by fractional distillation, the TiCl4 is reduced with 800 °C (1,470 °F) molten magnesium in an argon atmosphere.
2
FeTiO
3
+
7
Cl
2
+
6
C
→
900
o
C
2
FeCl
3
+
2
TiCl
4
+
6
CO
{\displaystyle {\ce {2FeTiO3 + 7Cl2 + 6C ->[900^oC] 2FeCl3 + 2TiCl4 + 6CO}}}
TiCl
4
+
2
Mg
→
1100
o
C
Ti
+
2
MgCl
2
{\displaystyle {\ce {TiCl4 + 2Mg ->[1100^oC] Ti + 2MgCl2}}}
==== Arkel-Boer process ====
The van Arkel–de Boer process was the first semi-industrial process developed to produce pure titanium, invented by Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer in 1925 for the electronics company Philips. It is a closed-loop process that involves thermal decomposition of titanium tetraiodide. This same process is used to purify other metals, such as thorium, hafnium, and zirconium, and a similar process using further refined iodide was used to refine chromium. A desire to develop processes that could be run continuously led to the development of commercial processes to refine titanium.
==== Armstrong process ====
Titanium powder is manufactured using a flow production process known as the Armstrong process that is similar to the batch production Hunter process. A stream of titanium tetrachloride gas is added to a stream of molten sodium; the products (sodium chloride salt and titanium particles) are filtered from the extra sodium. Titanium is then separated from the salt by water washing. Both the sodium and chlorine are recycled to produce and process more titanium tetrachloride.
==== Other processes ====
The titanium tetrachloride used as an intermediate in both the Hunter and Kroll process is a volatile and corrosive liquid, and is thus hazardous to work with. The processes involving the tetrachloride, both its formation and the vacuum distillation processes used to purify the final material, are slow, and have prompted development of other techniques.
Methods for electrolytic production of Ti metal from TiO2 using molten salt electrolytes have been proposed starting in the 1990s, and have been researched and tested at laboratory and small pilot plant scales. While some metals such as nickel and copper can be refined by electrowinning at room temperature, titanium must be in the molten state, which is likely to damage the refractory lining of a reaction vessel. Zhang and colleagues concluded in 2017 that despite industry interests in finding new ways to manufacture titanium metal, no method had yet been developed to commercially replace the Kroll process. One manufacturer in Virginia has developed a method to recycle scrap titanium metal back into powder, though their scale remains small, having the goal of producing only 125 tons of titanium per year as of 2025.
One method that has been developed to potentially supplant the Kroll process is known as hydrogen-assisted magnesiothermic reduction and makes use of magnesium, hydrochloric acid, and a hydrogen atmosphere to directly reduce titanium dioxide to pure titanium. The reduction of titanium dioxide powder by magnesium in an atomphere of hydrogen can be followed by a leaching step with hydrochloric acid, which removes magnesium and residual non-titanium oxides. This is followed by additional reduction and leaching steps, and eventually results in pure titanium powder or titanium hydride.
=== Fabrication ===
All welding of titanium must be done in an inert atmosphere of argon or helium to shield it from contamination with atmospheric gases (oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen). Contamination causes a variety of conditions, such as embrittlement, which reduce the integrity of the assembly welds and lead to joint failure.
Titanium is very difficult to solder directly, and hence a solderable metal or alloy such as steel is coated on titanium prior to soldering. Titanium metal can be machined with the same equipment and the same processes as stainless steel.
==== Titanium alloys ====
Common titanium alloys are made by reduction. For example, cuprotitanium (rutile with copper added), ferrocarbon titanium (ilmenite reduced with coke in an electric furnace), and manganotitanium (rutile with manganese or manganese oxides) are reduced.
About fifty grades of titanium alloys are designed and currently used, although only a couple of dozen are readily available commercially. The ASTM International recognizes 31 grades of titanium metal and alloys, of which grades one through four are commercially pure (unalloyed). Those four vary in tensile strength as a function of oxygen content, with grade 1 being the most ductile (lowest tensile strength with an oxygen content of 0.18%), and grade 4 the least ductile (highest tensile strength with an oxygen content of 0.40%). The remaining grades are alloys, each designed for specific properties of ductility, strength, hardness, electrical resistivity, creep resistance, specific corrosion resistance, and combinations thereof.
In addition to the ASTM specifications, titanium alloys are also produced to meet aerospace and military specifications (SAE-AMS, MIL-T), ISO standards, and country-specific specifications, as well as proprietary end-user specifications for aerospace, military, medical, and industrial applications.
==== Forming and forging ====
Commercially pure flat product (sheet, plate) can be formed readily, but processing must take into account of the tendency of the metal to springback. This is especially true of certain high-strength alloys. Exposure to the oxygen in air at the elevated temperatures used in forging results in formation of a brittle oxygen-rich metallic surface layer called "alpha case" that worsens the fatigue properties, so it must be removed by milling, etching, or electrochemical treatment. The working of titanium may include friction welding, cryo-forging, and vacuum arc remelting.
== Applications ==
Titanium is used in steel as an alloying element (ferro-titanium) to reduce grain size and as a deoxidizer, and in stainless steel to reduce carbon content. Titanium is often alloyed with aluminium (to refine grain size), vanadium, copper (to harden), iron, manganese, molybdenum, and other metals. Titanium mill products (sheet, plate, bar, wire, forgings, castings) find application in industrial, aerospace, recreational, and emerging markets. Powdered titanium is used in pyrotechnics as a source of bright-burning particles.
=== Pigments, additives, and coatings ===
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the most common compound of the element, being the end point of 95% of the world's refined titanium. It is a widely used white pigment. It is also used in cement, in gemstones, and as an optical opacifier in paper.
TiO2 pigment is chemically inert, resists fading in sunlight, and is very opaque: it imparts a pure and brilliant white color to the brown or grey chemicals that form the majority of household plastics. In nature, this compound is found in the minerals anatase, brookite, and rutile. Paint made with titanium dioxide does well in severe temperatures and marine environments. Pure titanium dioxide has a very high index of refraction and an optical dispersion higher than diamond. Titanium dioxide is used in sunscreens because it reflects and absorbs UV light.
=== Aerospace and marine ===
Because titanium alloys have high tensile strength to density ratio, high corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, high crack resistance, and ability to withstand moderately high temperatures without creeping, they are used in aircraft, armor plating, naval ships, spacecraft, and missiles. For these applications, titanium is alloyed with aluminium, zirconium, nickel, vanadium, and other elements to manufacture a variety of components including critical structural parts, landing gear, firewalls, exhaust ducts (helicopters), and hydraulic systems. About two thirds of all titanium metal produced is used in aircraft frames and engines. The titanium 6AL-4V alloy accounts for almost 50% of all alloys used in aircraft applications.
The Lockheed A-12 and the SR-71 "Blackbird" were two of the first aircraft frames where titanium was used, paving the way for much wider use in modern military and commercial aircraft. A large amount of titanium mill products are used in the production of many aircraft, such as (following values are amount of raw mill products used, only a fraction of this ends up in the finished aircraft): 116 metric tons are used in the Boeing 787, 77 in the Airbus A380, 59 in the Boeing 777, 45 in the Boeing 747, 32 in the Airbus A340, 18 in the Boeing 737, 18 in the Airbus A330, and 12 in the Airbus A320. In aero engine applications, titanium is used for rotors, compressor blades, hydraulic system components, and nacelles. An early use in jet engines was for the Orenda Iroquois in the 1950s.
Because titanium is resistant to corrosion by sea water, it is used to make propeller shafts, rigging, heat exchangers in desalination plants, heater-chillers for salt water aquariums, fishing line and leader, and divers' knives. Titanium is used in the housings and components of ocean-deployed surveillance and monitoring devices for science and military. The former Soviet Union developed techniques for making submarines with hulls of titanium alloys, forging titanium in huge vacuum tubes.
=== Industrial ===
Welded titanium pipe and process equipment (heat exchangers, tanks, process vessels, valves) are used in the chemical and petrochemical industries primarily for corrosion resistance. Specific alloys are used in oil and gas downhole applications and nickel hydrometallurgy for their high strength (e. g.: titanium beta C alloy), corrosion resistance, or both. The pulp and paper industry uses titanium in process equipment exposed to corrosive media, such as sodium hypochlorite or wet chlorine gas (in the bleachery). Titanium is also used in sputtering targets.
Powdered titanium acts as a non-evaporative getter, and is one of several gas-reactive materials used to remove gases from ultra-high vacuum systems. This application manifested in titanium sublimation pumps first employed in 1961, though the metal was first used in vacuum systems to prevent chambers from oxidizing in a design created by Raymond Herb in 1953.
Titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), a colorless liquid, is important as an intermediate in the process of making TiO2 and is also used to produce the Ziegler–Natta catalyst. Titanium tetrachloride is also used to iridize glass and, because it fumes strongly in moist air, it is used to make smoke screens. In many industrial applications, titanium and its alloys can serve as a potential substitute for other metals, such as nickel, niobium, scandium, silver, tantalum, and tungsten.
=== Consumer and architectural ===
Titanium metal is used in automotive applications, particularly in automobile and motorcycle racing where low weight and high strength and rigidity are critical. The metal is generally too expensive for the general consumer market, though some late model Corvettes have been manufactured with titanium exhausts.
Titanium is used in many sporting goods: tennis rackets, golf clubs, lacrosse stick shafts; cricket, hockey, lacrosse, and football helmet grills, and bicycle frames and components. Although not a mainstream material for bicycle production, titanium bikes have been used by racing teams and adventure cyclists. Titanium is used in spectable frames, as it is durable and protect the lenses, though it may be less flexible than alternatives. Its biocompatibility is a potential benefit over other glasses frame materials. Titanium is a common material for backpacking cookware and eating utensils. Titanium horseshoes are preferred to steel by farriers because they are lighter and more durable. Some upmarket lightweight and corrosion-resistant tools, such as shovels, knife handles and flashlights, are made of titanium or titanium alloys.
Titanium has occasionally been used in architecture. The 42.5 m (139 ft) Monument to Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel in space, as well as the upper part of the 110 m (360 ft) Monument to the Conquerors of Space on top of the Cosmonaut Museum in Moscow are made of titanium. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Cerritos Millennium Library were the first buildings in Europe and North America, respectively, to be sheathed in titanium panels. Titanium sheathing was used in the Frederic C. Hamilton Building in Denver, Colorado.
Because of titanium's superior strength and light weight relative to other metals (steel, stainless steel, and aluminium), and because of advances in metalworking techniques, its use has become widespread in the manufacture of firearms. Primary uses include pistol frames and revolver cylinders. For the same reasons, it is used in the body of some laptop computers (for example, in Apple's PowerBook G4) and phones (such as the iPhone 15 Pro).
=== Jewelry ===
Because of its durability, titanium is used in some designer jewelry, such as titanium rings. Its inertness makes it hypoallergenic and wearable in environments such as swimming pools. Titanium is also alloyed with gold to produce an alloy that can be marketed as 24-karat gold, because the 1% of alloyed Ti is insufficient to require a lesser mark. The resulting alloy is roughly the hardness of 14-karat gold and is more durable than pure 24-karat gold.
Titanium's durability, light weight, and dent and corrosion resistance make it useful for watch cases. Some artists work with titanium to produce sculptures, decorative objects and furniture. Titanium may be anodized to vary the thickness of the surface oxide layer, causing optical interference fringes and a variety of bright colors. With its variable coloration and chemical inertness, titanium is a popular metal for body piercing.
Titanium has a minor use in dedicated non-circulating coins and medals. In 1999, the world's first titanium coin was minted for Gibraltar's millennium celebration. Pobjoy Mint, the British mint that produced the coin, continued to manufacture anodized titanium coins until its closure in 2023. The Gold Coast Titans, an Australian rugby league team, award a medal of pure titanium to their player of the year.
=== Medical ===
Because titanium is biocompatible (non-toxic and not rejected by the body), it has many medical uses, including surgical implements and implants, such as hip balls and sockets (joint replacement) and dental implants. Titanium and titanium alloy implants have been used in surgery since the 1950s, and are favored due to their low rate of corrosion, long life, and low Young's modulus. A titanium alloy that contains 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium commonly used in the aerospace industry is also a common material for artificial joints.
Titanium has the inherent ability to osseointegrate, enabling use in dental implants that can last for over 30 years. This property is also useful for orthopedic implant applications. These benefit from titanium's lower modulus of elasticity to more closely match that of the bone that such devices are intended to repair. As a result, skeletal loads are more evenly shared between bone and implant, leading to a lower incidence of bone degradation due to stress shielding and periprosthetic bone fractures, which occur at the boundaries of orthopedic implants. However, titanium alloys' stiffness is still more than twice that of bone, so adjacent bone bears a greatly reduced load and may deteriorate. Biomedical implants coated with a combination of silver and titanium have been researched as a potential option for load-bearing implants that need antimicrobial surfaces.
Modern advancements in additive manufacturing techniques have increased potential for titanium use in orthopedic implant applications. Complex implant scaffold designs can be 3D-printed using titanium alloys, which allows for more patient-specific applications and increased implant osseointegration. Because titanium is non-ferromagnetic, patients with titanium implants can be safely examined with magnetic resonance imaging (convenient for long-term implants). Preparing titanium for implantation in the body involves subjecting it to a high-temperature plasma arc which removes the surface atoms, exposing fresh titanium that is instantly oxidized. Titanium is used for the surgical instruments used in image-guided surgery, as well as wheelchairs, crutches, and any other products where high strength and low weight are desirable.
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles are widely used in electronics and the delivery of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
==== Anticancer therapy studies ====
Following the success of platinum-based chemotherapy, titanium(IV) complexes were among the first non-platinum compounds to be tested and accepted for clinical trials in cancer treatment. The advantage of titanium compounds lies in their high efficacy and low toxicity in vivo. In biological environments, hydrolysis leads to the safe and inert titanium dioxide. Despite these advantages, the first candidate compounds failed clinical trials due to insufficient efficacy to toxicity ratios and formulation complications. Further development resulted in the creation of potentially effective, selective, and stable titanium-based drugs.
=== Nuclear waste storage ===
Because of its corrosion resistance, containers made of titanium have been studied for the long-term storage of nuclear waste. Containers lasting more than 100,000 years are thought possible with manufacturing conditions that minimize material defects. A titanium "drip shield" has been considered for installation over containers of other types to enhance their longevity.
== Hazards and safety ==
Titanium is non-toxic, even in large doses, and does not play any natural role inside the human body. An estimated 0.8 milligrams of titanium is ingested by humans each day, but most passes through the digestive system without being absorbed in the tissues. However, it can sometimes bioaccumulate in tissues that contain silica. Yellow nail syndrome has been reported in individuals that have been exposed to titanium, though the disorder's rarity have made it difficult to determine a direct association between exposure and disorder development.
As a powder or in the form of metal shavings, titanium metal poses a significant fire hazard and, when heated in air, an explosion hazard. Water and carbon dioxide are ineffective for extinguishing a titanium fire; Class D dry powder agents must be used instead. When used in the production or handling of chlorine, titanium exposed to dry chlorine gas may result in a titanium–chlorine fire. Titanium can also catch fire when a fresh, non-oxidized surface comes in contact with liquid oxygen.
== Function in plants ==
An unknown mechanism in plants may use titanium to stimulate the production of carbohydrates and encourage growth. This may explain why most plants contain about 1 part per million (ppm) of titanium, food plants have about 2 ppm, and horsetail and nettle contain up to 80 ppm. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Rodriguez | Alex Rodriguez | Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners (1994–2000), Texas Rangers (2001–2003), and New York Yankees (2004–2013, 2015–2016). Rodriguez is the chairman and chief executive officer of A-Rod Corp as well as the chairman of Presidente beer. He owns a controlling interest in the National Basketball Association's Minnesota Timberwolves with Marc Lore. Rodriguez began his professional baseball career as one of the sport's most highly touted prospects and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
With a career .295 batting average, Rodriguez amassed over 600 home runs (696), over 2,000 runs batted in (RBI), over 2,000 runs scored, over 3,000 hits, and over 300 stolen bases, the only player in MLB history to achieve all of those feats. He was also a 14-time All-Star, winning three American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, 10 Silver Slugger Awards, and two Gold Glove Awards. Rodriguez is also the career record holder for grand slams. During the 2000s decade, Rodriguez led all players in home runs (435), runs batted in (1,243), runs scored (1,190), and total bases (3,362).
The Mariners selected Rodriguez first overall in the 1993 MLB draft, and he debuted in the major leagues the following year at the age of 18. In 1996, he became the Mariners' starting shortstop, won the major league batting title, and finished second in voting for the AL MVP Award. His combination of power, speed, and defense made him a cornerstone of the franchise, but he left the team via free agency after the 2000 season to join the Rangers. The 10-year, $252 million contract he signed was the richest in baseball history at the time. He played at a high level in his three years with Texas, winning his first AL MVP Award win in 2003, but the team failed to make the playoffs. Before the 2004 season, Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees, for whom he converted to a third baseman to accommodate their shortstop Derek Jeter. He was named AL MVP in 2005 and 2007. He opted out of his contract after the 2007 season, then signed a new 10-year, $275 million deal with the Yankees, breaking his own record for the sport's most lucrative contract. He became the youngest player to hit 500 home runs, reaching the milestone in 2007. He helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies, Rodriguez's only championship title. Toward the end of his career, he was hampered by hip and knee injuries, which caused him to become exclusively a designated hitter. He played his final game in professional baseball on August 12, 2016.
Despite denying in a 2007 interview that he had ever used performance-enhancing drugs, Rodriguez admitted in 2009 to having used steroids, saying he used them from 2001 to 2003 when playing for the Rangers due to "an enormous amount of pressure" to perform. While recovering from a hip injury in 2013, Rodriguez made headlines by feuding with team management over his rehabilitation and for having allegedly obtained performance-enhancing drugs as part of the Biogenesis scandal. In August 2013, MLB announced a 211-game suspension for Rodriguez for his involvement in the scandal. After an arbitration hearing, the suspension was reduced to 162 games, which kept him off the field for the entire 2014 season.
After retiring as a player, Rodriguez became a media personality, serving as a broadcaster for Fox Sports, a cast member of Shark Tank and a contributor to ABC News. In January 2018, ESPN announced that Rodriguez would be joining the broadcast team of Sunday Night Baseball.
== Early life ==
Rodriguez was born on July 27, 1975, in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan to Dominican immigrants Víctor Manuel Rodríguez Marcano and Lourdes Nelly Navarro Melo from San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic. He was raised alongside his two half-siblings, Joe and Suzy, from his mother's first marriage. In 1979, when he was four years old, the family moved to the Dominican Republic, then to Miami, Florida, when he was in the fourth grade. His father played baseball for a team in the Dominican Republic and introduced him to the sport as a child. Growing up, Rodriguez's favorite baseball players were Keith Hernandez, Dale Murphy, and Cal Ripken Jr., and his favorite team was the New York Mets.
At the end of his freshman year at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Rodriguez transferred to Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay, Florida, where he was a star shortstop on the baseball team and played quarterback on the football team. In 100 games he batted .419 with 90 stolen bases. Westminster won the high school national championship in his junior year. He was first team prep All-American as a senior, hitting .505 with nine home runs, 36 runs batted in (RBIs), and 35 stolen bases in 35 attempts in 33 games. He was selected as the USA Baseball Junior Player of the Year and as Gatorade's national baseball student-athlete of the year. In 1993, Rodriguez became the first high school player to try out for the United States national baseball team. He was regarded as the top prospect in the country.
Rodriguez signed a letter of intent to play baseball for University of Miami and was also recruited by Miami to play quarterback for its football team. Rodriguez turned down the University of Miami baseball scholarship offer and never played college baseball, opting instead to sign with the Seattle Mariners after being selected first overall in the 1993 amateur draft at the age of 17.
== Professional career ==
=== Seattle Mariners ===
==== 1993: MLB draft ====
The Seattle Mariners selected Rodriguez with the first overall selection of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft. The Mariners signed him to a three-year contract worth $1.3 million, and a $1 million signing bonus.
==== 1994–1995 ====
In 1994, Rodriguez made his professional baseball debut as a minor league player with the Appleton Foxes of the Class A Midwest League. He was promoted to the Jacksonville Suns of the Double-A Southern League. He played in 17 games for Jacksonville, then was promoted to the Triple-A Calgary Cannons for 32 games before moving up to the major leagues. On July 8, Rodriguez debuted in the major leagues as a starting shortstop, just the third 18-year-old major league shortstop since 1900. He was also the first 18-year-old major league player since 1978 and the youngest position player in Seattle history. He remains the last 18-year-old to play in an MLB game, as of the end of the 2025 season. Rodriguez recorded his first major league hit when he singled off of Sergio Valdez on July 9 at Fenway Park. Rodriguez played in 17 games for the Mariners, compiling a .204 batting average, two RBIs, and three stolen bases. In August, The Mariners optioned Rodriguez to Triple-A Calgary. In 32 games for Calgary, he had 37 hits in 119 at-bats for a .311 batting average. He also compiled six home runs and 21 RBIs.
Rodriguez split most of the 1995 season between the Mariners and the Tacoma Rainiers of the PCL. He hit his first major league home run off Kansas City's Tom Gordon on June 12. Rodriguez permanently joined the Mariners roster in August and got his first taste of postseason play, albeit just two at-bats. Again, he was the youngest player in MLB. During the 1995 season, Rodriguez played 48 games for Seattle, batting .232 with five home runs, 19 RBI, and four stolen bases.
==== 1996–1997 ====
The following year, Rodriguez took over as the Mariners' regular shortstop and had his breakout season. He led the American League (AL) with a .358 batting average, the highest for an AL right-handed batter since Joe DiMaggio hit .381 in 1939 and the tenth-highest ever for a shortstop. He also had 36 home runs with 123 RBIs. At 21 years and one month, he was the third youngest AL batting leader ever behind Al Kaline (20) in 1955 and Ty Cobb (20) in 1907, and the third-youngest player in history with 35+ homers. He was also the first major league shortstop to win a batting title since 1960, and the first in the AL since 1944. At age 20 years, 11 months, he was the youngest shortstop in All-Star Game history. He also led the AL in runs (141), total bases (379), and doubles (54) and ranked among the league leaders in base hits (second, 215), extra-base hits (second, 91), multi-hit games (third, 65), slugging (fourth, .631), RBI (eighth, 123), and on-base percentage (eighth, .414). Rodriguez posted the highest totals ever for a shortstop in runs, hits, doubles, extra-base hits, and slugging, and tied most total bases, and established Seattle club records for average, runs, hits, doubles, and total bases, in a season that statistical analysts consider the best ever by a shortstop.
The Sporting News and Associated Press selected Rodriguez as their Major League Player of the Year. He finished second to Juan González in balloting for the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. He finished three points behind González (290–287), matching the second-closest AL MVP voting in history.
In 1997, Rodriguez batted .300 with 23 home runs and 84 RBIs. He hit for the cycle on June 5, becoming the second Mariner, and at 21 years, 10 months, the fifth-youngest player in history, to accomplish the feat. He was voted by fans to start the All-Star Game at shortstop for the AL team, becoming the first player other than Ripken to start at shortstop in 13 years. It was the first All-Star start of his career and his second consecutive All-Star Game.
==== 1998–2000 ====
Rodriguez rebounded in 1998, when he set the AL record for homers by a shortstop and became just the third member of the 40–40 club, (with 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases) and one of three shortstops in history to hit 40 home runs in a season. His 43.9 Power-speed number was, until 2023, the highest single-season power–speed number. He was selected as Players Choice AL Player of the Year, won his second Silver Slugger Award, and finished ninth in the MVP voting.
In 1999, Rodriguez had a .310 average, 42 home runs, and 111 RBIs, despite missing over 30 games with an injury and playing the second half of the season at Safeco Field, a considerably less hitter-friendly ballpark than the Kingdome. At the time, he was the youngest-ever player to record 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases, at 23 years and 309 days of age. That record lasted until April 2015, when Mike Trout reached the same milestone at 23 years and 253 days old.
Rodriguez entered 2000 as the cornerstone of the Mariners franchise, which had recently traded future Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. Rodriguez produced great numbers, hitting 41 home runs with 132 RBIs and a .316 batting average. He set a career high for walks (100) and became the only shortstop to have 100 runs, RBI, and walks in the same season. He hit well in the playoffs as well (.409 batting average and .773 slugging percentage), but Seattle lost to the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series (ALCS). He was selected as the Major League Player of the Year by Baseball America and finished third in the AL MVP voting.
=== Texas Rangers ===
Rodriguez became a free agent after the 2000 season. He eventually signed with the Texas Rangers, who had just finished in last place in the AL West. The contract was at the time the most lucrative contract in sports history: a 10-year deal worth $252 million (equivalent to $471 million in 2025). The deal was worth $63 million more than the second-richest baseball deal. The contract was highly criticized, because it tied up valuable payroll space that could have been spent to improve other areas, such as pitching. Dave McNally, one of the players who had successfully challenged the reserve clause in the 1970s to create free agency in baseball, said, "My first thought when I saw [reports that Rodriguez had signed] was: Did Texas offer him $250 million and he wanted two more? How did they get to $252 million?"
In an interview eight years later, Rodriguez said he regretted signing with Texas and wished he had signed with the New York Mets instead, and that he had heeded the advice of his agent, Scott Boras. (See Opt out controversy.)
==== 2001–2002 ====
Rodriguez's power-hitting numbers improved with his move to the Texas Rangers. In his first season there, Rodriguez produced one of the top offensive seasons ever for a shortstop, leading the AL with 52 home runs, 133 runs scored, and 393 total bases. He became the first player since 1932 with 50 homers and 200 hits in a season, the third shortstop to ever lead the league in homers, and the second AL player in the last 34 seasons (beginning 1968) to lead the league in runs, homers, and total bases; his total base figure is the most ever for a major league shortstop. His 52 homers made him the sixth youngest to ever reach 50 homers and were the highest total ever by a shortstop, surpassing Ernie Banks' record of 47 in 1958, and also the most ever for an infielder other than a first baseman, breaking Phillies 3B Mike Schmidt's mark of 48 in 1980. It was his fifth 30-homer campaign, tying Banks for most ever by a shortstop. He also tied for the league lead in extra-base hits (87) and ranked third in RBIs (135) and slugging (.622). He was also among the AL leaders in hits (fourth, 201), average (seventh, .318), and on-base percentage (eighth, .399). He established Rangers club records for homers, runs, total bases, and hit by pitches, had the second-most extra-base hits, and the fourth-highest RBI total. He led the club in runs, hits, doubles (34), homers, RBI, slugging, and on-base percentage and was second in walks (75), stolen bases (18), and game-winning RBI (14) while posting career highs for homers, RBI, and total bases. Rodriguez started 161 games at shortstop and one as the DH, the only major league player to start all of his team's games in 2001.
Rodriguez followed the previous year with a major league-best 57 home runs, 142 RBIs and 389 total bases in 2002, becoming the first player to lead the majors in all three categories since 1984. His nine home runs in April matched a team record that was shared (through 2008) with Iván Rodríguez (2000), Carl Everett (2003), and Ian Kinsler (2007). He had the sixth-most home runs in AL history, the most since Roger Maris' then-league record 61 in 1961 and the most ever for a shortstop for the second straight year. He won the Babe Ruth Home Run Award for leading MLB in homers that season. He also won his first Gold Glove Award, awarded for outstanding defense.
His 109 home runs in 2001–02 were the most ever by an AL right-handed batter in consecutive seasons (later surpassed by Aaron Judge in 2024–2025). However, the Rangers finished last in the AL West division in both years. He finished second in the MVP balloting to fellow shortstop Miguel Tejada, whose 103-win Oakland Athletics won the same division.
==== 2003 ====
The 2003 season was Rodriguez's last year with the Rangers. He led the AL in home runs, runs scored, and slugging percentage, and won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award. He also led the league in fewest at-bats per home run (12.9) and became the youngest player to hit 300 homers. He was tied with Jim Thome for the MLB lead in homers, and he won his second Babe Ruth Home Run Award.
Following five top-10 finishes in the AL MVP voting between 1996 and 2002, Rodriguez won his first MVP trophy. Rodriguez, a two-time runner up in the balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, joined outfielder Andre Dawson from the 1987 Chicago Cubs as the only players to play on last-place teams and win the award.
Following the 2003 season, Texas set out to part ways with Rodriguez and his expensive contract. The Rangers initially agreed to a trade with the Boston Red Sox, sending Rodriguez to Boston for Manny Ramirez, 19-year old pitching prospect Jon Lester, and cash considerations. However, the MLB Players Association vetoed the deal because it called for a voluntary reduction in salary by Rodriguez. Despite the failed deal with the Red Sox, the Rangers named him team captain during that off-season.
=== New York Yankees ===
Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone suffered a knee injury while playing a game of pickup basketball that sidelined him for the entire 2004 season, creating a hole at third base.
On February 15, 2004, the Rangers traded Rodriguez to the New York Yankees for second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later (Joaquín Árias was sent to the Rangers on March 24). The Rangers also agreed to pay $67 million of the $179 million left on Rodriguez's contract. Rodriguez agreed to switch positions from shortstop to third base, paving the way for the trade, because the popular Derek Jeter was already entrenched at shortstop. This was only the second time in MLB history that a reigning MVP was traded, with the first coming in 1914 when Eddie Collins was traded to the Chicago White Sox from the Philadelphia Athletics for cash considerations. Rodriguez also had to switch uniform numbers; he had worn 3 his entire career, but the number was retired by the Yankees in honor of Babe Ruth. Instead, Rodriguez chose to change his number to 13, in honor of Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. A Miami native himself, Rodriguez had grown up watching Marino and also wore number 13 when he played quarterback in high school.
==== 2004 ====
During his first season with the Yankees, Rodriguez hit .286 with 36 home runs, 106 RBIs, 112 runs scored and 28 stolen bases. He became one of only three players in major league history to compile at least 35 home runs, 100 runs and 100 RBIs in seven consecutive seasons, joining Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx. The 112 runs marked the ninth straight season in which he scored at least 100 runs, the longest such streak in MLB since Hank Aaron did it in 13 straight seasons from 1955 to 1967, and the longest in the AL since Mickey Mantle did it also in nine straight seasons from 1953 to 1961. During the 2004 season, he also became the youngest player ever to reach 350 home runs and the third youngest to reach 1,000 RBIs. He was elected to the AL All-Star Team, the eighth All-Star selection of his career and the first as a third baseman. On July 24, 2004, Rodriguez was hit by a pitch from Bronson Arroyo, which led to a scuffle with Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, and a bench-clearing brawl between both teams. On defense, he had the lowest range factor among non-platoon AL third basemen (2.39) in his first year at the position. He finished 14th in balloting for the AL MVP Award.
In the AL Division Series (ALDS), Rodriguez was a dominant hitter against the Minnesota Twins, batting .421 and slugging .737 while delivering two key extra-inning hits. Rodriguez's first season with the Yankees culminated in a dramatic playoff series against the team he had almost ended up playing for: the Yankees' bitter rival, the Boston Red Sox. In that ALCS, he equaled the single-game post-season record with five runs scored in Game 3 at Boston.
One of the most controversial plays of Rodriguez's career occurred late in Game 6 of the ALCS. With one out and Derek Jeter on first base in the bottom of the eighth inning, Rodriguez hit a slow roller between the pitcher's mound and the first-base line. Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo fielded the ball and ran towards Rodriguez to apply a tag. As Arroyo reached towards him, Rodriguez swatted at his glove, knocking the ball loose. As the ball rolled away, Jeter scored all the way from first as Rodriguez took second on the play, which was initially ruled an error on Arroyo. However, the umpires quickly huddled, then ruled that Rodriguez was out for interference. Jeter was sent back to first base, and his run was nullified. The Yankees would then lose the ALCS to the eventual World Series champion Red Sox after leading the series three games to none.
==== 2005–2006 ====
In 2005, Rodriguez hit .321, leading the AL with 124 runs and 48 home runs while driving in 130 runs. He became the first Yankee to win the AL home run title since Reggie Jackson (41) in 1980. He also became one of only two players in major league history to compile at least 35 home runs, 100 runs and 100 RBIs in eight consecutive seasons (Jimmie Foxx accomplished the feat in nine straight seasons from 1932 to 1940). Rodriguez set the franchise record for most home runs in a single season by a right-handed batter, surpassing Joe DiMaggio's mark of 46 in 1937. (Judge hit 62 in 2022.) His 47 home runs from the third base position are a single-season AL record. Rodriguez hit 26 home runs at Yankee Stadium, establishing the single-season club record for right-handed batters (previously held by DiMaggio in 1937 and Gary Sheffield in 2004 and surpassed by Judge at the new Yankee Stadium in 2022). On June 8, at 29 years, 316 days old, he became the youngest player in MLB history to reach the 400 home run mark. 2005 also marked the tenth straight season that Rodriguez scored at least 100 runs. On defense, however, he had the lowest range factor in the league at third for the second straight season (2.62).
On April 26, Rodriguez hit three home runs off Angels pitcher Bartolo Colón and drove in 10 runs. The 10 RBIs were the most by a Yankee since Tony Lazzeri established the franchise and AL record with 11 on May 24, 1936. Rodriguez became the 11th major leaguer to accomplish the feat.
Rodriguez won his second AL MVP Award in three seasons, becoming the fifth player to win this award with two different teams, joining Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Robinson and Barry Bonds. He also became the first AL player from outside the AL West to win the award since Mo Vaughn of the Boston Red Sox won in 1995. Rodriguez was also named the shortstop on the MLB Latino Legends Team in 2005.
Prior to the season, Rodriguez played for the U.S. in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Rodriguez was again an All-Star in 2006. His 2,000th hit, on July 21, 2006 − six days prior to his 31st birthday − was also his 450th home run. Rodriguez became the youngest player in baseball history to reach 450 home runs (surpassing Ken Griffey Jr., by 267 days), and the eighth player to reach 2,000 hits before turning 31. Ty Cobb reached the mark while still 29, while Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott, Hank Aaron, Joe Medwick, Jimmie Foxx, and Robin Yount all achieved their 2,000th hit at age 30. All seven are members of baseball's Hall of Fame.
For the season, Rodriguez finished fourth in the league in RBI (121), fifth in runs scored (113), eighth in home runs (35) and walks (90), and ninth in OBP (.392). He also led all AL third basemen in errors, with 24, and had the lowest fielding percentage (.937) and—for the third straight season—range factor (2.50) among them. Rodriguez also became the second player in major league history to record at least 35 home runs, 100 runs, and 100 RBIs in nine consecutive seasons, joining Foxx. It was Rodriguez's 11th consecutive season with more than 100 runs scored, the longest such streak in AL history since Lou Gehrig did so in 13 straight seasons (1926–38). Despite this success, it was perceived as one of his lesser-accomplished seasons and was harshly criticized throughout the 2006 season. He has commented that 2006 was his most difficult season as a professional.
==== 2007 ====
When Rodriguez reported to camp in 2007, he had reduced his body fat from 16% the year before to 9%. He made light of this fact during a Late Show with David Letterman sketch that was filmed during Spring training, which featured him shirtless being rubbed down with suntan lotion. He revealed to the press that he and Jeter were no longer close friends. Rodriguez also reduced his high leg kick at the plate, increasing his bat speed, making him less-apt to strike out and a more dangerous hitter.
In the Yankees' fourth game of the season, Rodriguez hit two home runs against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium, including his 14th-career grand slam to end the game. The walk-off grand slam was the third of his career, tying the major league mark for game-ending grand slams shared by Vern Stephens and Cy Williams. Rodriguez also began the season by becoming the ninth major leaguer—and first Yankee—to hit six home runs in the first seven games of the season. Rodriguez also became the first Yankee to hit seven home runs in the first ten games of the season.
On April 23, Rodriguez became the first player in major league history to hit 14 home runs in a span of 18 games, and also tied the MLB record for most home runs in April. His total of 34 RBIs in April was one short of Juan González's MLB record. In a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 30, Rodriguez sparked controversy when he shouted during a routine play and an infielder let a pop fly drop, costing the Blue Jays three runs. The Yankees went on to win the game, 10–5. On July 12, Rodriguez hit his 150th career home run in a Yankees uniform. This made him the first, and so far only, player in major league history to ever hit 150 home runs for three different teams. He became the third player to hit at least 100 home runs for three teams, following Reggie Jackson and Darrell Evans.
Rodriguez hit his 500th career home run against pitcher Kyle Davies of the Kansas City Royals on August 4. Rodriguez became the youngest player ever to reach 500 home runs at 32 years, 8 days. He surpassed the nearly 67-year record held by Jimmie Foxx, who hit his 500th home run at 32 years, 338 days during the final week of the 1940 MLB season. On September 25, Rodriguez became the fifth MLB player to record a 50-home run, 150-RBI season when he hit a grand slam. Rodriguez is the most recent player to have recorded at least 150 RBIs in one season, as of 2025.
In 2007, Rodriguez became the first player in major league history to have at least 35 home runs, 100 runs, and 100 RBIs in 10 consecutive seasons, surpassing Jimmie Foxx (nine consecutive seasons). He led the AL in home runs (54), RBIs (156), slugging percentage (.645), OPS (1.067), total bases (376), and times on base (299), and was second in hit by pitch (21), extra-base hits (85), and at bats per home run (10.8), fourth in on-base percentage (.422) and sacrifice flies (9), seventh in walks (95) and plate appearances (708), eighth in intentional walks (11), and ninth in games (158). He led MLB in home runs and won his third Babe Ruth Home Run Award.
After the season, Rodriguez was named the AL MVP for the third time in his career, receiving 26 first-place votes out of a possible 28. He also won the Silver Slugger Award for his position, the Players Choice Award for Outstanding AL Player, and the Players Choice Award for Player of the Year.
===== Opt-out controversy =====
The 2007 season marked the last year of Rodriguez's 10-year, $252 million contract before he opted out and became a free agent again. Rodriguez had repeatedly stated during the 2007 season that he would like to remain a Yankee for the rest of his career. On October 28, Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, announced that he would not renew his contract with the Yankees citing that he "was unsure of the future composition" of the team. Because of the opt-out, the Yankees also lost $21.3 million in remaining payments from the Rangers as part of their agreement from the 2004 trade. Rodriguez received a slew of criticism from fans and writers alike not only for opting out, but also for not meeting with Yankee management before he did. He was further criticized for the timing of his announcement, during the eighth inning of Game 4 of the World Series, as the Boston Red Sox were wrapping up their victory over the Colorado Rockies; even MLB's chief operating officer, Bob DuPuy, called it an attempt by Boras to "try to put his selfish interests and that of one individual player above the overall good of the game."
Teammate Mariano Rivera convinced Rodriguez to contact the New York Yankees ownership. He contacted them directly, bypassing Boras (Boras also apologized for the timing of the announcement). Subsequently, Rodriguez issued a statement on his website, saying that he wished to stay with the Yankees. On November 15, the Yankees and Rodriguez agreed on the "basic framework" of a 10-year, $275 million contract (equivalent to $514 million in 2025) that would have him playing until he was 42. The contract, finalized December 13, included various multimillion-dollar incentives for breaking career home run milestones.
==== 2008 ====
Rodriguez hit his 549th home run in a September 3, 2008, game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The opposing manager objected that the ball was foul, and for the first time in MLB history, instant replay (a process officially introduced a few days earlier) was used to review the play and uphold the umpires' ruling. He was one of only four batters in the AL to have at least 18 home runs and 18 stolen bases in both 2007 and 2008, along with Torii Hunter, Ian Kinsler, and Grady Sizemore. Rodriguez hit a home run every 14.6 at-bats in 2008, the second-best ratio on the team behind Jason Giambi. Rodriguez played 138 games during the 2008 season with a .302 average, 35 home runs, 103 RBI, and an AL best .573 slugging percentage.
==== 2009 ====
===== February: Report of positive test for steroids =====
On February 7, 2009, Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and the anabolic steroid Primobolan in 2003. Rodriguez's name appears on a government-sealed list of 104 major-league players (out of 1200 tested) who came up positive for performance-enhancing drugs. The report was compiled as part of MLB's 2003 survey to determine whether a mandatory random drug testing program might be necessary. At the time, there was no penalty or punishment for a positive steroid test. Rodriguez did not immediately confirm the allegations, deferring at first to the players' union. Two days after the allegations, Rodriguez admitted to steroid use from 2001 to 2003, claiming that he ceased using such substances after spring training that year.
===== 2009 regular season =====
Prior to the 2009 season, Rodriguez was scheduled to represent the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, but he was forced to withdraw when an MRI revealed a cyst in his right hip. When he went to have the cyst drained, it was discovered that he was also suffering from a torn labrum in the same hip. Rodriguez opted to undergo an arthroscopic procedure with a recovery period of six to nine weeks, instead of the usual three to four months. Although the procedure should have allowed him to make it through the season without any complications, he required a second, more extensive surgery in the off-season.
After missing spring training and the first month of the season, Rodriguez returned to the Yankees in a May 8 game against the Baltimore Orioles and hit a three-run home run on the first pitch of his first at-bat. The Yankees had stumbled to a 13–15 record in Rodriguez's absence, and his return fortified the lineup and provided much-needed protection for three-hole hitter Mark Teixeira, who was a notoriously slow starter. Rodriguez also supplied some late-game heroics. On May 16, his two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the eleventh inning gave the Yankees a 6–4 win over the Minnesota Twins. One week later, he hit a game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge in a game the Yankees would go on to win, 5–4.
By early June, the Yankees had surged to first place in the AL East. The club's fortunes changed later in the month, when Rodriguez fell into a slump that saw his batting average plummet as the Yankees fell to second place. On June 23, Rodriguez became the eighth active player to reach 8,000 career at-bats in the seventh inning of the Yankees and Braves game. On June 25, Rodriguez belted homer 563 of his career, off Atlanta Braves starter Derek Lowe, and tying Reggie Jackson for 11th on the all-time home run list. On June 26, Rodriguez surpassed Jackson for 11th on the all-time home run list, against the New York Mets in the Subway Series, and against the Angels on July 11, Rodriguez passed Rafael Palmeiro for 10th place; it was his 65th home run against Anaheim, the most by any active player against an opponent.
On October 4, during the final game of the season, Rodriguez hit two home runs in the sixth inning that drove in seven runs, setting an AL record for most RBI by a batter in a single inning, and giving him his 12th consecutive season, 13 overall, of reaching 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, breaking a tie with Manny Ramirez, Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx for the most in MLB history.
===== Postseason =====
Dating back to Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, Rodriguez had batted with 38 runners on base over a span of 61 postseason at-bats. He stranded every one of them, going 0-for-29 with runners on base. However, in the first game of the 2009 ALDS against Minnesota, he hit two RBI singles, both with two outs. In Game 2, he hit an RBI single in the sixth, and hit a game-tying homer off closer Joe Nathan in the bottom of the ninth inning. In Game 3, he again hit a game-tying home run. In the ALCS, Rodriguez hit his third game-tying home run of the postseason in Game 2 in the bottom of the 11th against Angels closer Brian Fuentes. For the series, he batted 9–21 (.429) with three home runs and six runs batted in.
The Yankees faced the Phillies in the World Series. In Game 3, Rodriguez hit what appeared to be a double off a camera perched atop the outfield wall, but after protest by Yankee manager Joe Girardi, the play was reviewed and ruled a home run. In Game 4, Rodriguez drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the ninth inning off closer Brad Lidge. The Yankees would go on to win the game 7–4 to take a 3-games-to-1 lead in the series. Despite a 2–4 performance with three RBI in Game 5, the Yankees lost 8–6 to force the Series to return to the Bronx for Game 6. Rodriguez was 1–2 with 2 walks and two runs scored in Game 6, as the Yankees went on to defeat the Phillies 7–3 for their 27th World Series championship, the only one of Rodriguez's career. Having reversed his postseason misfortunes, he was the Babe Ruth Award winner as the 2009 postseason MVP, in which he batted .365 with six home runs and 18 RBI.
==== 2010–2012 ====
On August 4, 2010, on the three-year anniversary of his 500th home run, Rodriguez became the seventh player in major league history to hit 600 home runs, hitting number 600 off Shaun Marcum of the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the youngest player to do so at 35 years and 8 days old. On August 14, Rodriguez hit three home runs in a game against the Kansas City Royals. In the top of the sixth, he hit his first, a solo dinger to left center. In the top of the seventh, he hit his second, a two-run shot to dead center. In the top of the ninth, he hit his third, a towering two-run blast into the waterfall in Kauffman Stadium. On September 6, he recorded his 100th RBI; it was the 14th year he had reached the mark, the most times of any player in baseball history. On September 29, he hit his 30th home run of the season, recording his MLB-record 13th straight year of at least 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, breaking a tie with Jimmie Foxx, who had 12 seasons.
In 2011, Rodriguez batted .295 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs prior to the All-Star break. Despite good production, Rodriguez suffered the longest single-season home run drought of his career by not hitting one in 85 at-bats. Although elected to start the game, Rodriguez opted for arthroscopic surgery on his knee to repair a torn meniscus that impacted his power, and was placed on the disabled list. On top of recovery, Rodriguez was facing serious allegations that he participated in illegal, underground poker games. One of those games reportedly turned violent and cocaine was openly used. However, Rodriguez denied through a representative that he ever participated in illegal poker games. An MLB Executive has said that if Rodriguez was indeed proven guilty, he may face a suspension; MLB had warned Rodriguez in 2005 not to participate in such games.
Rodriguez returned to the Yankees on August 21, playing third base against the Minnesota Twins, going 0-for-4. He sustained another injury with a jammed thumb while trying to make a play in that game. He returned to the Yankees on August 25, going 2-for-4 with two singles in a win for the Yankees over the Oakland Athletics. On August 26, Rodriguez hit his first home run since coming off the disabled list, a solo shot off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tommy Hunter. He concluded the season with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs in 99 games, ending his MLB-record streak of 13 straight seasons of 30 homers and 100 RBIs.
Rodriguez hit his 23rd career grand slam off Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Jonny Venters on June 12, 2012, which tied Lou Gehrig for the most in MLB history. In a road loss versus the Seattle Mariners on July 24, 2012, Rodriguez took a hit to the hand during an eighth-inning at bat versus Seattle starting pitcher Félix Hernández. The injury was later described as a non-displaced fracture. Rodriguez was placed on the disabled list. Earlier in the same game, Hernandez struck out Rodriguez in the sixth inning, making Rodriguez the fifth player to record 2,000 career strikeouts in MLB history.
During the 2012 postseason, Rodriguez was removed for a pinch hitter multiple times and did not start many times. He batted 3-for-25 overall, and went 0-for-18 with 12 strikeouts against right-handed pitchers. He batted .111 in the 2012 ALCS. The Yankees were eliminated by the Tigers in the 2012 ALCS.
==== 2013 ====
On January 16, 2013, Rodriguez underwent arthroscopic surgery in his hip to repair a torn labrum. It was the second time in four years that he had the surgery, although the operation was more serious than before. Rodriguez began the 2013 season on the 60-day disabled list.
While rehabilitating his hip, Rodriguez was embroiled in a series of negative headlines: he became a central figure of the Biogenesis scandal and MLB's investigation into his possible connection to performance-enhancing drugs. Around the same time, Rodriguez announced on Twitter that his doctor had medically cleared him to play in games. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, much to his dismay, soon revealed that Rodriguez's doctor did not have such authority to clear him.
Rodriguez played his first rehab assignment game on July 2, 2013, with the Yankees Class-A Low affiliate, the Charleston RiverDogs. He continued his rehabilitation and played for the Yankees Triple-A team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on July 18. Two days prior to his scheduled promotion to the major league roster, Rodriguez sustained a new injury, as an MRI later revealed a Grade 1 quad strain, delaying his return and forcing him to continue rehabilitating in the minor leagues. Rodriguez independently sought a second opinion on his quad strain on July 24 with a doctor who stated that there did not appear to be an injury; the Yankees front office expressed further dismay, claiming that he violated league rules for seeking a second opinion without the team's permission. He completed his rehabilitation program with the Yankees' Double-A affiliate Trenton Thunder.
Rodriguez made his 2013 return with the Yankees on August 5, which was the same day that MLB announced he would be suspended—pending an appeal—through the 2014 season for his role in the Biogenesis scandal. On August 11, Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season off Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. With the home run, Rodriguez passed Stan Musial for fifth place in career RBIs. Rodriguez continued to feud with the Yankees front office following his return, as his lawyers accused the team, and specifically Christopher S. Ahmad, of mishandling his hip injury in several ways; Rodriguez's legal team contended that the team withheld the injury from him and continued to play him in 2012, despite his condition. Yankees team president Randy Levine expressed negative comments towards Rodriguez, saying that he would "feel happy if Rodriguez never played again". In response to the accusations, Cashman said, "I'm not comfortable talking to Alex about this because we feel we are in a litigious environment. Hello and goodbye, that's about it." He added, "It's not just Yankees' management. He's putting it at the level of our trainers, our medical staff. The organization. The team."
During a game against the Red Sox on August 18, Rodriguez was involved in key moments against Ryan Dempster. The first time he faced Dempster, Rodriguez was hit by a pitch on a 3–0 count, leading to home plate umpire Brian O'Nora warning both benches and ejecting Girardi, while Dempster was allowed to stay in the game. Later in the top of the sixth inning, Rodriguez encountered Dempster again, hitting a 442-foot home run to straightaway center. The Yankees won 9–6, and Dempster, who hit Rodriguez before, was suspended five games by the league with an undisclosed fine (although he did not miss a start).
On September 20, at Yankee Stadium, Rodriguez hit his 24th career grand slam, an opposite field 654th career home run, off George Kontos of the San Francisco Giants, breaking the all-time grand slam record, formerly held by Lou Gehrig. For the 2013 season, Rodriguez played in only 44 games batting .244 with seven home runs and 19 RBI.
==== 2014: Suspension due to Biogenesis scandal ====
Rodriguez's suspension that was announced the previous season but delayed pending an appeal, was upheld, resulting in him being suspended for the entirety of the 2014 regular season and postseason. At the end of the 2014 season, general manager Brian Cashman announced that Rodriguez would no longer serve as an everyday third baseman after the team's signing of Chase Headley, and would instead serve as a designated hitter.
==== 2015 ====
In the off-season, during the week of January 19, 2015, it was reported that Rodriguez met with new Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred. The pair reportedly had a "positive discussion...in which Rodriguez apologized, while promising to behave in the future". On February 17, 2015, Rodriguez issued a hand-written letter of apology to "Major League Baseball, the Yankees, the Steinbrenner family, the Players Association and you, the fans".
Rodriguez reported to New York Yankees' 2015 spring training camp three days early. Girardi planned to play Rodriguez at first base during spring training to assess whether he could be played there, a first for his career.
Rodriguez played his first game after his suspension on opening day against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. He served as the designated hitter, going 1 for 2 with a walk as the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays 1–6. On April 17, his first multi-HR game – and third and fourth home runs – of the season included a blast off Nate Karns of Tampa Bay that traveled 471 feet (144 m), providing four total RBIs in a 5–4 win. In a pinch-hit appearance against the Red Sox on May 1, Rodriguez hit his 660th career home run off reliever Junichi Tazawa, tying Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time home run list. On May 7, Rodriguez hit his 661st career home run off Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman for sole possession of fourth place on the all-time home run list. On May 27, Rodriguez set an AL record for the most career RBI, passing Lou Gehrig, also moving him into third on the all-time list.
With his 666th career home run against Bud Norris of the Orioles on June 13, Rodriguez drove in his 2,000th and 2,001st career runs. However, opinions varied on whether he was the second (Elias Sports Bureau, trailing Aaron), third (MLB, trailing Aaron and Ruth), or fourth player (Baseball-Reference.com, trailing Aaron, Ruth, and Cap Anson) in MLB history to attain 2,000 RBIs. Rodriguez's next home run was also his 3,000th career hit, making him the 29th player to reach the milestone. He hit it against the Tigers' Justin Verlander in a 7–2 win, joining Wade Boggs and Jeter – both former Yankees – as the only players to hit a home run for his 3,000th hit. With his next hit on June 20, Rodriguez surpassed Roberto Clemente, the eleventh player in MLB history to have recorded 3,000 hits. On July 25, against the Twins in Minnesota, and two days before his 40th birthday, Rodríguez became the fifth-oldest player to hit three home runs in one game.
In his first 95 games of the season, Rodriguez hit 24 homers and produced an OPS of .930. After being mired in a 72-at-bat slump without a home run until August 18 against the Twins, he hit his 25th home run which was also his 25th career grand slam, extending his MLB record. The home run also drove in the go-ahead runs for an 8–4 Yankees win.
From August 1 until the end of the season, Rodriguez appeared in 56 games, batting .191, .678 OPS, nine home runs, and struck out 59 times in 183 at-bats. The first base experiment yielded two total appearances in 2015. He finished with 33 home runs, 86 RBI, 131 hits, and a .252 batting average. He led the Yankees in home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, and bases-on-balls. Rodriguez reached 30+ home runs for the 15th time in his career, tying Aaron for the most 30-home-run seasons in history.
==== 2016 ====
On April 17, 2016, Rodriguez became the 19th player to make 12,000 career plate appearances. On May 4, the Yankees placed him on the 15-day disabled list due to a right hamstring strain. On May 24, the Yankees sent him on a rehab assignment to the Double-A Trenton Thunder, and activated him on May 26. The next day, he hit his 30th career home run at Tropicana Field, which traveled an estimated 440 feet (130 m), as the Yankees defeated Tampa Bay, 4–1. However, for much of the season, Rodriguez notably struggled to adequately produce, enduring prolonged slumps as his role dwindled from everyday designated hitter to pinch hitter. In July, he had two extra base hits, including his 696th career home run.
At a press conference held on August 7, Rodriguez announced that he would play in his final game for the Yankees on the following Friday, August 12, against the Rays at Yankee Stadium. It was also noted that the Yankees would sign him to a new contract that would keep him in the organization through 2017 as a special instructor and advisor. In the offseason, Rodriguez would join the Yankees' front office as a special advisor. The club commemorated Rodriguez's final game as a Yankee, thanking him in front of a sold-out crowd for his efforts with a tribute of highlights on the stadium videoboard, a presentation of a framed number 13 jersey, and a base autographed by teammates. At the plate, he batted third and started as the designated hitter, going 1-for-4 with an RBI double. In the ninth inning, he was brought onto the field at third base for one batter − his only defensive appearance for the Yankees in 2016 − and departed the field to a "raucous ovation" from the fans. The next day, the Yankees granted him his unconditional release. His vacated roster spot was filled by future MVP Aaron Judge.
Rumors swirled regarding Rodriguez's future in baseball; the Miami Marlins were interested in signing him to play first base until his spokesman Ron Berkowitz emailed the media on August 15 and said on behalf of Rodriguez, "I want to put all this talk to rest about Alex playing for any team this season. It's not happening. Like he said Friday night, he is happy and he is going to take some time to relax and hang with his family and friends." Rodriguez ended the season playing 65 games with a .200 batting average, nine home runs and 31 RBIs.
In January 2017, Rodriguez's spokesman said that he would not play for any other team in the coming year, and would remain a "special advisor" to Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner.
== Media career ==
=== Television ===
Rodriguez became a guest judge on Shark Tank in 2017. That same year, he signed a deal with ABC News network to serve as a contributor to ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and Nightline.
Rodriguez is an MLB studio analyst for Fox Sports, working alongside Kevin Burkhardt, David Ortiz and Derek Jeter. During his tenure as analyst, Fox Sports' MLB studio show won back-to-back Sports Emmy Awards for Outstanding Studio Show during the network's coverage of the 2016 and 2017 postseason. Rodriguez was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Event Analyst in 2019. Rodriguez joined ESPN in 2018 as a Sunday Night Baseball analyst, alongside Matt Vasgersian and Buster Olney. In the 2022 season, Rodriguez moved to a simulcast on ESPN2 that he co-hosts with Michael Kay.
In January 2017, CNBC announced Rodriguez would be the host of the show Back in the Game. The first episode debuted on the network in March 2018. The series focuses on Rodriguez mentoring athletes and entertainers who have fallen on hard times. A four-episode series debuted in November 2019 and featured Evander Holyfield, Ryan Lochte, Brian Dunkleman, and Nicole Eggert.
In July 2020, it was announced that Rodriguez would be part of the judging panel for the Forbes Next 1000 list, a franchise which focuses on entrepreneurs from marginalized communities.
Rodriguez appeared in The Captain, a 2022 miniseries about Jeter's life and career. Rodriguez and Jeter discussed the rift in their friendship.
Rodriguez is the subject of the 2025 documentary series Alex vs ARod.
=== Advertisements ===
Rodriguez was featured in a 2010 Pepsi Cola commercial as a truck driver in a fleet of delivery trucks simulating players in a baseball game. At the end of the commercial when he drives his vehicle to make a catch, he is told by his approving partner in the truck that he has a future in the beverage delivery business.
Rodriguez is featured in a commercial for Guitar Hero World Tour, where he plays the guitar along with athletes Tony Hawk on drums, Kobe Bryant on vocals, and Michael Phelps on guitar. The commercial is a spoof of the scene from Risky Business where Tom Cruise is dancing to "Old Time Rock and Roll".
In 2019, Rodriguez was featured in a Planters Super Bowl commercial, where he is watching the game and about to snack on some kale chips but Mr. Peanut drives in to stop him from eating kale and instead snack on some Peanuts. In 2020, during Super Bowl LIV, Rodriguez was featured in a Presidente beer Super Bowl commercial, as well as a Hard Rock ad which also featured Jennifer Lopez.
In 2021, Rodriguez teamed up with cosmetics company Hims to launch a line of make-up for men, beginning with its first product – a concealer stick. His ex Jennifer Lopez is a co-investor. In 2022, Rodriguez appeared in a DirecTV commercial with Ortiz and former Mariners teammates Griffey Jr. and Johnson.
== Criticism ==
Due to the unsuccessful nature of the Yankees postseasons from 2004 to 2007, along with Rodriguez's sub-.200 batting average in the postseasons of 2005 and 2006, Rodriguez drew criticism in the New York area, both from writers, such as the New York Post's Joel Sherman, and players, such as then-teammate, Jason Giambi. Prior to 2009, Rodriguez had received the nickname "The Cooler" among some players because of the perceived tendency for teams to turn cold when he joins them and hot when he leaves. According to Yankees manager Joe Torre's 2009 book, The Yankee Years, Rodriguez earned the nickname "A-Fraud" from teammates and particularly from clubhouse attendants who were said to resent his demands. "It was [said] in front of him," Torre later said of the nickname. "A lot of that stuff that went on in the clubhouse was more tongue-in-cheek, fun type stuff," he explained.
Much of the criticism regarding Rodriguez focused on his alleged inability to produce hits in clutch situations. In 2008, Rodriguez hit only .264 with runners in scoring position and two outs. In 95 plate appearances, he walked 20 times and was hit by three pitches, and he had only 19 hits. Of the 41 times Rodriguez struck out with two outs, 20 came with runners in scoring position.
Because of the Yankees' successful history, he was compared unfavorably to other Yankees greats who have performed exceptionally well in the postseason, such as Reggie Jackson. However, after his performance in the 2009 postseason, Rodriguez started receiving many positive comparisons to Reggie Jackson, even being selected as "Mr. October" by Jackson and USA Today.
Rodriguez answered many of the criticisms of his postseason performance by performing exceptionally well in the 2009 postseason, where he posted a .365 batting average and hit six home-runs in 52 at-bats during the Yankees' 15 post-season games.
== Use of performance-enhancing drugs ==
In July 2007, former outfielder and steroid-user Jose Canseco said that he was planning to publish another book about Major League Baseball (MLB) to follow his 2005 bestseller Juiced. Canseco said his new book would have "other stuff" on Rodriguez, and called him a hypocrite. At the time, Rodriguez denied accusations of steroid use. In a 2007 interview with Katie Couric, Rodriguez flatly denied ever having used performance-enhancing drugs.
In February 2009, Selena Roberts and David Epstein of Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone and Primobolan, during his 2003 season playing for the Texas Rangers, the same season in which he captured his first American League Most Valuable Player award, broke 300 career home runs (hitting 47 that year), and earned one of his ten Silver Slugger Awards. The information had been part of a government-sealed report detailing 104 major league players (out of 1200 players tested) who tested positive for performance enhancers during a 2003 drug survey. Approved by the players themselves with the promise of anonymity, the survey was conducted by MLB to see whether a mandatory drug testing program might be necessary. At the time, as the result of a collectively bargained union agreement, there was no penalty or punishment for a positive test. Because more than 5% of the samples taken from players in 2003 came back positive, mandatory testing of major league baseball players began in 2004, with penalties for violations.
The 2003 test results were supposed to remain anonymous and the samples destroyed. However, a coded master list of 104 players was seized during the BALCO investigation, turning up in a 2004 federal raid on Comprehensive Drug Testing's facility in Long Beach, California. A month later, the physical samples were seized by federal agents raiding Quest Diagnostics in Las Vegas, Nevada. The list of the 104 positive-testing players was released to the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) in 2004. The players' union later said that the 104 positive samples were in the process of being destroyed when they were subpoenaed by federal authorities in November 2003, making continued destruction "improper."
Although testosterone is available by prescription for some uses, Primobolan has no approved prescription use. Also known as methenolone or metenolone enanthate, it is the same steroid that Barry Bonds is alleged to have tested positive for in 2000 and 2001. A fairly weak steroid on its own, it is generally used in conjunction with other steroids. The drug is generally preferred in injected rather than oral form due to its cost. An official statement by MLB made shortly after Rodriguez's test results became public expressed "grave concern" without naming Rodriguez, noting that "because the survey testing that took place in 2003 was intended to be non-disciplinary and anonymous, we can not make any comment on the accuracy of this report as it pertains to the player named."
In an interview with ESPN after the report came out, citing "an enormous amount of pressure to perform", Rodriguez admitted to using banned substances from 2001 to 2003. "All my years in New York have been clean", he added, saying he had not used banned substances since last taking them following a spring training injury in 2003 while playing for the Rangers. "Back then, [baseball] was a different culture", Rodriguez said. "It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful." Rodriguez said he could not be sure of the name(s) of the substance(s) he had used.
Rodriguez said he was never told that he was among the 104 players who tested positive, only that a tip came in August 2004 from Gene Orza of the MLBPA that he "may or may not have" failed his 2003 test. Orza is accused by three (unnamed) MLB players of tipping Rodriguez to an upcoming drug test in September 2004. Orza and the MLBPA have denied the allegations.
Rodriguez absolved the players' union of any blame for leaking his positive test results, saying he alone was responsible for his mistakes. Friend and former teammate Doug Glanville, while noting the outrage over Rodriguez's years of steroid use, berated Rodriguez's critics for their "lack of outrage about how a confidential and anonymous test could be made public." No major league player, Glanville wrote, would have participated in the 2003 survey if he had thought the results had even a chance of becoming public. "It has everything to do with privacy. Being A-Rod should not change that fact."
MLB commissioner Bud Selig briefly considered whether to punish Rodriguez for his admitted steroid use, citing the illegality of the situation, among other things. However, at the time of the testing there were no punishments for this sort of activity. Additionally, his admission to three years of steroid use could be damaging to his image and legacy.
Later in the month, Rodriguez called a press conference in Tampa, Florida, and in the presence of many supportive Yankee teammates, answered reporters' questions about his 2001–2003 steroid use. Rodriguez said he and a cousin (whom he refused to name) bought an unidentified drug over-the-counter in the Dominican Republic, where it is "known on the streets as boli or bollee." At Rodriguez's instruction, the cousin transported the drug into the United States. For six months of the year, Rodriguez injected himself twice monthly with "boli" (a drug name unfamiliar to experts and perhaps a slang term for Primobolan or Dianabol, although the latter steroid is taken orally). Rodriguez said he did not know whether he was using the drug properly or whether it was safe. Although he "certainly felt more energy", Rodriguez said it would be "hard to say" whether it gave him a competitive edge.
Rodriguez said he would become a spokesperson for the Taylor Hooton foundation, which educates young people about the dangers of steroid use. He has since spoken at schools about the dangers of steroids.
On February 28, 2010, The New York Times reported that Rodriguez had received treatment from Canadian sports doctor Anthony Galea in March 2009. In 2011, Galea reached a plea agreement for bringing unapproved and mislabeled drugs into the United States, including human growth hormone (HGH) and Actovegin. Galea confirmed to the Associated Press that he had treated Rodriguez but claimed that he had only prescribed anti-inflammatories.
=== Biogenesis scandal ===
Between 2010 and 2012, Rodriguez reportedly received HGH from Biogenesis of America, an anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables, Florida, run by Bosch. For much of the summer of 2013, it had been expected that Rodriguez would be suspended for his role in the scandal. The first definitive confirmation came on August 3, 2013, when MLB rebuffed the players' union's last-minute offer to negotiate. Instead, it allowed Rodriguez until the afternoon of August 4 to reach an agreement regarding a suspension or greater punishment for his role in the Biogenesis affair.
On August 5, MLB suspended Rodriguez from August 8 through the end of the 2014 season for violating the league's PED policy, a term that was to include a total of 211 regular-season games plus any postseason games. He was one of 13 players suspended for their roles in the scandal. In its official statement, MLB announced that the suspension was based on Rodriguez's "use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years" and "for attempting to cover-up his violations of the Program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner's investigation." Although the standard punishment for a first offense under MLB's drug policy is 50 games, MLB had the option of suspending Rodriguez for a longer term under the collective bargaining agreement if it had determined that his actions constituted conduct detrimental to baseball.
Almost immediately after the suspension was announced, Rodriguez announced that he would appeal. He was the only player to do so; the others accepted season-ending 50-game suspensions without appeal. Although MLB commissioner Bud Selig had the option of using his best-interests-of-baseball powers to remove Rodriguez from the field immediately, he chose to suspend Rodriguez under the drug agreement and not the CBA, allowing Rodriguez to continue playing while the appeal was under way. The proposed suspension would include a global lock clause, which would also prevent him from playing in other known leagues, such as Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Championship, as the leagues in those nations honor any suspensions imposed by MLB. Rodriguez hired New York criminal defense lawyer Joe Tacopina.
A lengthy arbitration process followed, but the suspension was upheld on January 11, 2014. However, because Rodriguez was allowed to play during the appeal process, this effectively reduced the suspension to 162 games, the entirety of the 2014 regular-season schedule. Because Rodriguez was on the suspended list retroactive through August 31, the suspension would have included the postseason if the Yankees had qualified, although the team failed to reach the playoffs. Rodriguez issued a statement announcing that he would challenge the decision in federal court. On February 7, 2014, Rodriguez announced his decision to abandon his lawsuit and accept the suspension for the 2014 season. In March 2014, multiple sources reported that Rodriguez had refused to pay the balance of his legal fees, which amounted to more than $3 million. In July 2014, Rodriguez was sued by his lawyers for $380,000 in unpaid legal fees.
In November 2014, it was revealed that in the previous January, Rodriguez had admitted to the Drug Enforcement Administration that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. This was contrary to his comments of 18 days earlier when he had vehemently refuted the allegations and denied having used human growth hormones.
== A-Rod Corp ==
Rodriguez founded A-Rod Corp, a holding company, in 1996 and the company began making its first investments in 2003. Through the company, Rodriguez has invested in a series of companies in the technology, real estate, wellness, and entertainment industries. In 2008, Rodriguez founded Newport Property Construction, a real-estate development firm.
In 2012, he founded Monument Capital Management, which has acquired more than $1 billion of real estate assets in 16 states.
=== Investments ===
A-Rod Corp has invested in various companies including coconut water brand Vita Coco, Wheels Up, Snapchat, and virtual concert startup Wave.
Rodriguez partnered with Mark Mastrov in 2012 to create the Energy Fitness gym chain in Mexico City. Rodriguez sold a Mercedes-Benz dealership in League City, Texas, to Group 1 Automotive in 2014.
Rodriguez invested in NRG Esports alongside Shaquille O'Neal and Jimmy Rollins in 2016. In 2017, A-Rod Corp gained the rights to develop UFC-branded fitness centers across southern Florida. That year, A-Rod Corp purchased a major equity stake in TruFusion, a Las Vegas-based fitness studio chain, and invested in the beverage brand Dirty Lemon.
In 2018, A-Rod Corp invested in Petros Pace Finance, a financier of green development.
In 2019, the company invested in the co-living startup Bungalow, Acorns and Sonder. That year, Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez partnered with telehealth company Hims and Hers to provide affordable healthcare. Rodriguez also invested in Density, a technology company specializing in people counting.
Rodriguez became the new chairman of Presidente, a Dominican beer company owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, in January 2020. A-Rod Corp invested in Nova Credit, a financial technology company, in February 2020.
In July 2020, Rodriguez and Lopez were leading a group of investors bidding on the New York Mets, and had moved to the second stage of the bidding process. The bid failed, however.
Rodriguez and Marc Lore agreed to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association in 2021. Then-owner Glen Taylor said in 2024 that Rodriguez and Lore missed a payment to purchase the team, which was no longer for sale. Rodriguez and Lore won an arbitration ruling in 2025 to allow them to purchase the team from Taylor. The purchase, valuing the team at $1.5 billion, was completed in June 2025.
=== The Corp Podcast ===
Rodriguez partnered with Barstool Sports in 2018 to co-create The Corp Podcast with Dan Katz aka Barstool Big Cat. The podcast interviews industry leaders, athletes, and entrepreneurs. Season 1 featured Kobe Bryant, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, Mike Francesa, Michael Rubin and Barry Sternlicht. Season 2 featured Kevin Bacon, Martha Stewart, Danica Patrick, Stephanie McMahon, Maria Bartiromo, and Howard Schultz.
== Personal life ==
Rodriguez grew up with two half-siblings, Joe and Suzy, who were born in the Dominican Republic and are children from his mother's first marriage. Rodriguez's father, Victor, left the family in Miami when Alex was nine years old and moved to New York. The next time that Alex heard from him, was the day of the 1993 MLB draft. They met again in 2000.
Rodriguez also has a half-brother, Victor M. Rodriguez, who was born to Alex's father Victor Sr. and his then-wife Pouppe Martinez in 1960. The couple divorced a year later, and Victor Jr. grew up with his mother. Victor Jr., who is an officer in the United States Air Force, fell out of touch with Alex for 23 years, until they met at a Texas Rangers game in 2003. Alex's nephew, Joe Dunand, was a professional baseball player.
In 2002, Alex Rodriguez and Cynthia Scurtis, a psychology graduate he had met at a gym in Miami, married. Their first child was born on November 18, 2004. On April 21, 2008, Cynthia gave birth to their second child in Miami.
Cynthia Rodriguez filed for divorce on July 7, 2008, citing "emotional abandonment" of her and their children, "extramarital affairs and other marital misconduct" by her husband. Alex responded in court documents that the marriage was "irretrievably broken" but requested that allegations of his "extramarital affairs" be stricken from court records. The couple reached a settlement that September. In July, Madonna responded to rumors of an affair with Alex releasing a statement saying, "I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez" and that she had "nothing to do with the state of his marriage". Alex dated Kate Hudson before having a relationship with Cameron Diaz from May 2010 to September 2011. He dated model, actress, and former WWE Diva Torrie Wilson from 2011 to 2014. Then, he was in a short relationship with Anne Wojcicki, the founder of 23andMe, which ended in 2016 after dating for nearly a year.
In February 2017, he and singer and actress Jennifer Lopez began dating. In March 2019, they announced their engagement. In a 2020 interview with Devin Banerjee, Rodriguez described Lopez as "a powerhouse" saying, "I've never met anyone who has the work ethic, the vision, the principles that Jennifer possesses. She does so many things that people call her a triple threat. I call her an octopus threat." In April 2021, he and Lopez announced the end of their engagement.
In 2011, Rodriguez was represented by sports agent Dan Lozano. As of 2019, he is represented by Jon Rosen of WME/IMG.
== Philanthropy ==
In 2003, Rodriguez gave $3.9 million to the University of Miami to renovate its baseball stadium. The new facility was renamed "Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field". He is an ardent Miami Hurricanes fan. Despite not having attended the school, he received the university's Edward T. Foote II Alumnus of Distinction Award in 2007 as an honorary alumnus. Rodriguez was named an "honorary alumnus" of the university in 2004. He is a member of the university's board of trustees. In 2017, Rodriguez and A-Rod Corp donated $500,000 to the university's School of Business Administration.
Rodriguez is a Miami-Dade Boys & Girls Clubs Board Member. Rodriguez and A-Rod Corp donated $1 million to Boy & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade in 2010, building a state-of-the-art educational center for students. He donated an additional $1 million to Boys & Girls Club in conjunction with MLB. In addition, Rodriguez created a scholarship program for Boys and Girls Club alumni to attend the University of Miami, sponsoring more than 25 students since inception of the program.
In October 2019, Rodriguez, along with Jennifer Lopez, donated a year of prepared meals to Tennessee elementary students. In April 2020, Rodriguez and Lopez donated 20,000 prepared meals to help hospitality workers in the Miami area who had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also a member of the Paley Center for Media's board of trustees.
== Awards and honors ==
Rodriguez was included on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2022 when it was announced on November 22, 2021. In his first three years of eligibility, his highest vote total is 35.7%. The threshold for election is 75%.
Major league, minor league, and high school awards and exhibition team selections
1st Team High School All-American at infield (1993)
14× American League (AL) All-Star
7× as shortstop (1996–98, 2000–03)
7× as third baseman (2004–08, 2010–11)
3× AL Most Valuable Player Award (2003, 2005, 2007)
Babe Ruth Award (2009)
3× Babe Ruth Home Run Award (2002, 2003, 2007)
Baseball America 1st-Team Minor League All-Star at shortstop (1995)
4× Baseball America 1st-Team Major League All-Star
3× at shortstop (1998, 2000–03)
at third base (2005)
2× Baseball America Major League Player of the Year (2000, 2002)
Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year (1993)
GIBBY/This Year in Baseball Awards for Hitter of the Year (2007)
GIBBY/This Year in Baseball Awards for Individual Performance of the Year (2005)
6× GIBBY/This Year in Baseball Awards for Outstanding Player of the Year (1996, 1998, 2001–03, 2007)
4× Hank Aaron Award (2001–03, 2007)
10× Major League Baseball (MLB) Player of the Month Award
13× MLB Player of the Week Award
2× Minor League Baseball All-Star (1994 Midwest League, 1995 Triple-A)
Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Year (2007)
2× Gold Glove Award at shortstop (2002, 2003)
Seattle Mariners Minor League Player of the Year (1994)
2× Mariners Player of the Year (1998, 2000)
10× Silver Slugger Award
7× at shortstop (1996, 1998–2003)
3× at third base (2005, 2007, 2008)
3× The Sporting News Player of the Year (1996, 2002, 2007)
3× Texas Rangers Player of the Year (2001–03)
World Baseball Classic participant for United States (2006)
== Achievements ==
Notes: Per Baseball-Reference.com.
== Records ==
†: Rodriguez hit 2 home runs as a DH in 2007. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuerteventura | Fuerteventura | Fuerteventura (Spanish: [ˌfweɾteβenˈtuɾa] ) is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, geographically part of Macaronesia, and politically part of Spain. It is located 97 km (60 mi) away from the coast of North Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2009.
Fuerteventura belongs to the Province of Las Palmas, one of the two provinces that form the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The island's capital is Puerto del Rosario, where the Insule Council is found (the government of the island). Fuerteventura had 124,152 inhabitants (as of 2023), the fourth largest population of the Canary Islands and the third of the province. At 1,659.74 km2 (640.83 sq mi), it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife. From a geological point of view, Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the archipelago.
== Toponymy ==
The island's name is a compound formed by the Spanish words fuerte (either "strong" or "fort") and ventura ("fortune"). Traditionally, Fuerteventura's name has incorrectly thought to have been a reference to the strong winds (fuertes vientos in Spanish) around the island coastline, and the resulting danger to nautical adventurers. However, it might have referred instead (or also) to wealth, luck or destiny.
In 1339 the Mallorcan navigator Angelino Dulcert, in the Planisferio de Angelino Dulcert, referred to the island as "Forte Ventura".
Another theory is that the island's name derives from "Fortunatae Insulae" (Fortunate Islands), the name by which the Romans knew the Canary Islands.
The indigenous name of the island, before its conquest in the 15th century, was Erbania, divided into two regions (Jandía and Maxorata), from which the name majorero (originally majo or maxo) derives. However, it has been suggested that, at some point, Maxorata (which meant "the children of the country") was the aboriginal toponym of the entire island.
== History ==
=== Precolonial history ===
The first settlers of Fuerteventura are believed to have come from North Africa. The word Mahorero (Majorero) or Maho is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and is derived from the ancient word 'mahos', a type of goatskin shoe worn by these original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi-subterranean dwellings, some of which have been excavated, revealing remnants of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was originally known as Planaria, in reference to the flatness of most of its terrain.
Phoenician settlers landed in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the islands were organized around 1340, followed by Moors and European slave traders. At the end of the Iberian conquest, the island was divided into two Guanches kingdoms, one adhering to King Guize and the other to King Ayoze. The territories of these kingdoms were called Maxorata (in the North) and Jandía (in the South) respectively. They were separated by a wall, which traversed the La Pared isthmus. Some remains have been preserved. The ancient name for the island, Erbania, is derived from this wall's name.
=== Conquest ===
The island's conquest began in earnest in 1402, commanded by French knights and crusaders Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. They arrived with only 63 sailors out of the original 283, as many had deserted along the way. After arriving and settling in Lanzarote, the invaders made some first excursions to the neighboring islands. In 1404, Bethencourt and Gadifer founded Betancuria, on the West coast, the first settlement on the island. After numerous difficulties, Gadifer took charge of the invasion, while Bethencourt returned to Spain to seek the recognition and support of the Castilian king.
In 1405, de Béthencourt completed his conquest of the island, establishing its capital in Betancuria (Puerto Rosario took over the mantle as island capital in 1835).
In 1424 Pope Martin V, through the Betancuria Brief, edicted the establishment of the Bishopric of Fuerteventura, which encompassed all the Canary Islands save for the island of Lanzarote. The origin of this bishopric is directly related to the events that occurred after the Great Schism (1378–1417), in that the bishop of San Marcial del Rubicón of Lanzarote (at the time, the only diocese in the Canary Islands) did not recognize the papacy of Martin V, and instead adhered to anti-Pope Benedict XIII. The Bishopric of Fuerteventura was based in the Parish of Santa María de Betancuria, bestowing upon the latter the status of Grant Cathedral. After the reabsorbtion of the Diocese of San Marcial del Rubicón by the papacy of Pope Martin V, the Bishopric of Fuerteventura was abolished in 1431, only seven years after it was created.
The first census recorded a population of some 1,200 inhabitants. The population increased gradually thereafter. In 1476 the territory became the Señorío Territorial de Fuerteventura, subjected to the Catholic Monarchs. In later years, the island was invaded by the Spanish, French and the English.
=== 2nd conquest of Fuerteventura ===
Over time, the island endured numerous raids. A Berber-led expedition invaded in 1593, sweeping as far inland as the capital. Various castles were built along the coastline, to protect against these types of attacks. The population was moved inland as a second protective measure. Because of the raids, a first Captain General was dispatched to Fuerteventura, accompanied by a number of Sergeants Major, to defend the island in the name of the Crown. At that time, Betancuria became the religious capital of the island.
Two major attacks took place in 1740, within a month of each other. Two separate bands of English privateers attempted to loot the town of Tuineje. These attacks were however successfully averted by the local population and the island's militia. This successful repelling of the invaders is celebrated at a re-enactment that takes place in Gran Tarajal every year in October.
The island's garrison was officially instated in 1708. Its colonel assumed the title of Governor at Arms, a hereditary, lifelong appointment which has remained in the Sánchez-Dumpiérrez family. In time, this family increasingly garnered power over the other islands through alliances with the family of Arias de Saavedra and the Lady of Fuerteventura. During the same year the Assistant Parish of La Oliva and Pájara was created, to become operational in 1711. On 17 December 1790, the Assistant Parish of Tuineje was created, which became a new parish division on 23 June 1792 under the bishop Tavira, with lands including part of the Jandía peninsular, and with a population of 1,670 inhabitants. 1780 saw the start of a barrilla plantation industry.
=== To the present ===
In 1852, a free trade zone was extended by Isabella II to the Canary Islands. Military island rule, which began in 1708, was finally dissolved in 1859, and Puerto de Cabras (now Puerto del Rosario) - the only municipal seat on the coast - became the new capital.
The Canary Islands obtained self-governance in 1912. In 1927, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote became part of the province of Gran Canaria. The seat of the island's government (cabildo insular) is located in Puerto del Rosario. A total of 118,574 people lived on the island in 2018.
By the 1940s the island had an airport (just west of Puerto del Rosario on the road to Tindaya, still visible today). Mass tourism began to arrive in the mid-1960s, facilitated by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral and the first tourist hotels.
The island's proximity (a mere 100 km) to the West African coast and the fact that it is part of the Schengen territory make it a prime target destination for undocumented immigrants. However, many have perished while attempting the crossing.
== Flag ==
The flag of Fuerteventura is in proportions 1:2, divided vertically, green to the hoist and white to the fly end, with the coat of arms of the island in the centre.
=== Coat of arms ===
The coat of arms of Fuerteventura was prescribed by a Decree adopted on 15 October 1998 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 11 November 1998 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 142, pp. 13,432–13,433. It was adopted on 24 April 1998 by the Island Council and validated on 18 September 1998 by the Heraldry Commission of the Canary Islands.
The heraldic description is "per pale and per fess. First, gules, a castle or, masoned sable, its gate and windows azure. Second, argent, lion gules, crowned, armed and langued or. Third, silver, three fesses chequy gules and or, in four rows, each one charged with a fess or. Bordure gules, with eight saltires or. Ensigned with a royal crown, open."
According to José Manuel Erbez (Banderas y escudos de Canarias, 2007), the coat of arms is based on the arms of the island's provincial militia. The upper quarters represent Castile (symbolized by a castle) and León (symbolized by a lion). The lower quarter alludes to the Saavedra family; various members of this family were lords of Fuerteventura.
== Geography ==
=== Environment ===
The elongated island is 100 km (62 mi) long and 31 km (19 mi) wide. It has an area of 1,660 km2 (641 sq mi).
Located just 100 km (62 mi) off the coast of North Africa, it is the second biggest of the islands, after Tenerife, and has the longest white sand beaches in the archipelago. The island is a destination for sun, beach and watersports enthusiasts. It lies at the same latitude as Florida and Mexico and temperatures rarely fall below 18 °C (64 °F) or rise above 32 °C (90 °F). It counts 152 separate beaches along its seaboard — 50 km (31 mi) of white sand and 25 km (16 mi) of black volcanic shingle.
The highest point in Fuerteventura is Pico de la Zarza standing at 2648 ft (807 m) in the southwestern part of the island. Geographical features include Istmo de la Pared which is 5 km (3 mi) wide and is the narrowest part of Fuerteventura. The island is divided into two parts, the northern portion which is Maxorata and the southwestern part called the Jandía peninsula.
=== Climate ===
Fuerteventura has a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh). The climate is mild, but mostly windy, throughout the year. The island is hence referred to as the island of eternal spring. The sea regulates air temperature, diverting hot Sahara winds away from the island. The island's name in English translates as "strong fortune" or "strong wind", the Spanish word for wind being viento. During the winter months, temperatures average a high of 22 °C (72 °F) and a low of around 15 °C (59 °F), whereas during the summer a mean high of 28 °C (82 °F) and a low of 20 °C (68 °F) can be expected. Precipitation is about 147 mm (6 in) per year, most of which falls in autumn and winter. December is the month with highest rainfall.
A sandstorm known as the Calima (similar to the Sirocco wind, which blows to the North of the Sahara, to Europe) may blow from the Sahara Desert to the Northwest, and can cause high temperatures, low visibility and drying air. Temperatures during this phenomenon rise temporarily by approximately 10 degrees Celsius. The wind brings in fine red dust. The fine white sand is not blown in from Sahara, It is made up of dead coral reef and local seabed upheaval. Visibility can drop to between 100 and 200 m (328.08 and 656.17 ft) or even lower, and together with very warm temperatures, it can even bring African locusts to the island.
=== Hydrology ===
In the winter months, up to 80% of the rainwater flows unused into the ocean, as there is no vegetation to capture the water (also due to overgrazing by free-ranging goats near the coast).
The mountain forests, which were still present in the 19th century, were all chopped down.
Instead, there are many desalination plants (running on electricity) which produce the required amount of freshwater on the island. The tourists on the island use about double the amount of water as the native inhabitants of Fuerteventura. Causes are the filling of swimming pools, watering hotel gardens and washing towels.
=== Geology ===
Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the Canary Islands dating back 20 million years to a volcanic eruption from the Canary hotspot. The majority of the island was created about 5 million years ago and since then has been eroded by wind and precipitation. On the seabed off the west coast of the island rests an enormous slab of bedrock 22 km (14 mi) long and 11 km (7 mi) wide, which appears to have slid off the island largely intact at some point in prehistory, similar to the predicted future collapse of Cumbre Vieja, a geological fault on another Canary Island, La Palma. The last volcanic activity in Fuerteventura occurred between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.
=== Beaches ===
Fuerteventura was chosen among 500 European destinations by the Quality Coast International Certification Program of the European Coastal and Marine Union as one of the most attractive tourist destinations for visitors interested in cultural heritage, environment and sustainability. The best beaches to visit are Playa de Cofete, Playas de Jandia, Playas de Corralejo, Playa de Ajuy, and Playas de El Cotillo.
=== Wildlife ===
The island is home to one of the two surviving populations of the threatened Canarian Egyptian vulture. It is also inhabited by many wild dogs and cats. On the barren, rocky land there are Barbary ground squirrels and geckos. Fuerteventura also hosts several migratory and nesting birds. The island has significant populations of the collared dove, common swifts and several finch species especially in the vicinity of holiday developments.
Despite its arid climate, the island is also home to a surprisingly large insect fauna. Butterflies which commonly occur on the island include the clouded yellow (Colias hyale) and the bath white (Pontia daplidice) which feeds on xerophytic cruciferae. The island is also home to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and its close African relative Danaus chrysippus. Around holiday developments such as Caleta de Fuste, water is relatively abundant, and dragonfly species including the blue emperor (Anax imperator) and the scarlet darter (Crocothemis erythraea) can be found. The island's sand dunes and shoreline are home to a number of bee and wasp species including the large eumenid caterpillar hunting wasp, Delta dimidiatipenne and the blue banded bee (Amegilla canifrons).
Hawkmoths also occur on the island. One of the more notable species is Hyles tithymali which feeds on endemic spurges such as Euphorbia regis-jubae. Acherontia atropos, the deaths-head hawkmoth also occurs on the island presumably feeding on members of the Solanaceae, for example, Datura innoxia and Nicotiana glauca which are common weeds in the vicinity of human habitation.
== Natural symbols ==
The official natural symbols associated with Fuerteventura are Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae (hubara or houbara) and Euphorbia handiensis (Cardón de Jandía).
== Demographics ==
=== Population ===
The island had a population of 124,152 at the start of 2023. Throughout its long history, Fuerteventura has suffered from a population decline due to the economic situation and the climate, which have made it into a desert island. However, the development of tourism during the 1980s has caused the population to grow year on year since then, doubling it in a little less than a decade.
In 2005, with 86,642 registered inhabitants, the Fuerteventura population was formed by the following:
Born on the island: 30,364
Born on another Canary Island: 13,175
Born elsewhere in Spain: 20,938
Born in other countries: 22,165
Comparing this data with the 2001 census shows that the number of permanent residents born on the island has increased by just 3,000. The number who have moved in from abroad has increased by 22,910, making this the biggest contributor to population growth in recent years.
=== Education ===
The island has 116 schools, with a total of 14,337 pupils. Of these, 45 are primary schools, ten are secondary schools, six are for Baccalaureate students and four are vocational colleges.
Fuerteventura also has a centre linked with the National University of Distance Education, offering courses in many subjects including economics, business studies, law, history and tourism.
== Administration ==
Fuerteventura is governed by the Island Council of Fuerteventura, which holds the rank of a Government Subdepartment. The government building is located in the centre of the capital city.
This institution is charged with representing the Government of Spain on the island, and managing all the functions that are not under control of the Canarian Government. This includes the following public services:
Island Security Forces (National Police and Guardia Civil)
Puerto del Rosario port and Fuerteventura Airport
Tax Agency
Customs
the Maritime and Coastguard department
Driving licences, Traffic and Highways
Immigration – the Immigration Detention Centre and residential permits
Social Security
Red Cross
Seprona (the Nature Protection Service)
Passports
Since 30 June 2007, the island's governor has been Eustaquio Juan Santana Gil. 4
=== Island Council of Fuerteventura (Cabildo) ===
The councils, formed as part of the Councils Act of 1912, administer the Canary Islands and have two principal functions. On one hand, they perform services for the Autonomous Community, and on the other, they are the local government centre for the island. In the 2003 elections, Mario Cabrera González was elected as president representing the Canarian Coalition, with 31.02% of the votes, followed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party with 27.53%, represented by the Vice President Domingo Fuentes Curbelo.
=== Municipalities ===
Fuerteventura is part of the Province of Las Palmas. The island is divided into six municipalities, as follows:
In turn, these municipalities are organised into two associations: the Mancomunidad de Municipios del Centro-Norte de Fuerteventura formed from La Oliva and Puerto del Rosario, and the remaining municipalities make up the Mancomunidad de Municipios del Centro-Sur de Fuerteventura.
All municipalities are ruled by a town council, and are members of the FECAM (Federation of Canarian Municipalities). They are governed by the basic legislation of the local regime and their respective organic rules.
About 100 individual settlements are distributed through these municipalities. The largest not being municipal seats are Corralejo (in La Oliva; pop. 10,714 in 2023), Morro Jable (in Pájara; pop. 8,245) Gran Tarajal (in Tuineje; pop. 7,584), and Costa Calma (in Pájara; pop. 5,704), all coastal localities of recent development.
A nearby islet, Islote de Lobos, is close to Corralejo and part of the municipality of La Oliva.
== Economy ==
Both Fuerteventura and Lanzarote would have been the main exporters of wheat and cereals to the central islands of the archipelago during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries; Tenerife and Gran Canaria. However, this trade was of little benefit to the inhabitants of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura (because the landowners of the islands profited from this activity), leading to periods of famine, resulting in some of the population of the islands moving to Tenerife and Gran Canaria to try to improve their lives. Therefore, the island of Tenerife became the main focus of attraction for majoreros and lanzaroteños, hence the feeling of union that has always existed amongst these islands.
The economy of Fuerteventura is mainly based on tourism. Primary tourist areas are located around the existing towns of Corralejo in the north and Morro Jable in Jandia, plus the purely tourist development of Caleta de Fuste, south of Puerto del Rosario. Other main industries are fishing and agriculture (cereals and vegetables). The famous Majorero cheese is locally made from the milk of the indigenous majorera goat.
In 2009, Fuerteventura recorded the highest EU regional unemployment rate at a NUTS3 level, at 29.2 percent.
=== Tourism ===
The first tourist hotel was built in 1965 followed by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral, heralding the dawn of a new era for the island. Fuerteventura, with its 3,000 sunshine hours a year, was placed firmly on the world stage as a major European holiday destination.
While having fully developed tourist facilities, the island has not experienced the overdevelopment found on some other islands. Nonetheless, it remains a destination for predominantly but not exclusively European tourists.
The summer Trade Winds and winter swells of the Atlantic make this a year-round surfers' paradise, with more exposed areas on the north and west shores such as Corralejo and El Cotillo proving most popular. Wind surfing takes places at locations around the island. Sailors, scuba divers and big-game fishermen are all drawn to these clear blue Atlantic waters where whales, dolphins, marlin and turtles are all common sights. With many hills present throughout the Island, hikers are also attracted to this Island.
Sandy beaches are found in many locations. Western beaches, such as those around El Cotillo, can experience strong surf. The beaches adjoining the extensive sand dunes east of Corralejo are popular, as are the more protected extensive sandy shores of the Playa de Sotavento de Jandia on the southeastern coast between Costa Calma and the Morro Jable. Naked sun bathing and swimming are common on many of the beaches.
Much of the interior, with its large plains, lavascapes and volcanic mountains, consists of protected areas, although there are organised tours and vehicular access across them.
== Art and culture ==
=== Traditional holidays ===
Like the rest of the Canaries, Carnival is traditionally one of the biggest festivals celebrated on the island. It is celebrated in different ways in all the towns during February and March. These festivities have a different theme each year. They include activities such as parades and galas to choose the carnival king.
=== Concerts and festivals ===
There are many concerts and festivals held in the auditoriums, such as the Festival of Canarian Music. They are also held in smaller venues across the island, featuring bands such as Estopa, Van Gogh's Ear, and King Africa.
Lebrancho Rock: in 2004, the Town Hall of Puerto del Rosario started this initiative for the growing number of local bands who had been performing in the area for years but had not had the chance to play at the same event.
Fuertemusica: like Lebrancho Rock, this festival aims to encourage the local or emerging groups. It started in the same year. This festival is mainly for groups that are already known in the music world. It takes place in El Cotillo.
In the municipality of Betancuria (more specifically in the village of Vega de Rio Palmas) held every year the festivities in honor of the Virgen de la Peña, patron saint of the island of Fuerteventura, the most representative is the pilgrimage in which are involved people from all corners of the island. The holiday is celebrated on the third Saturday of September.
Festival Internacional de Cometas/International Kite Festival is held on the second week of November each year centering on the Corralejo Beaches. It attracts kitefliers and kite surfers from all over Europe. It is popular because the winds are warm and constant and the beaches become filled with hundreds of colourful kites of all shapes and sizes.
=== Auditoriums ===
Fuerteventura has three auditoriums. These are used for all types of performing art. They are also used for non-artistic purposes, such as conferences, charity galas and political meetings.
The Isle of Fuerteventura Auditorium
Gran Tarajal Auditorium
Corralejo Auditorium
=== Central library ===
The Central Library of the Island is located in Antigua's city centre, in the public university. In addition to providing the traditional library services, it has a 180-seat multipurpose room, air conditioning, a wifi zone, and a multimedia room used for seminars, presentations, film festivals etc.
=== Museums and exhibition spaces ===
The island has several museums with different themes and plenty of exhibition spaces, both public and private. These include:
The Antigua Windmill Craft Centre
The Salt Museum
The Atalayita Archeological Interpretation Centre
=== Sculpture park ===
In addition to the museums, the capital Puerto del Rosario has an open-air sculpture park consisting of around 100 sculptures by different artists scattered across the city. Most of them were created for the International Symposium of Sculpture celebrated annually since 2001. During the festival, artists come from all over the world to erect their sculptures in the open air, in full view of passers by.
== Main sights ==
Sites of interest include Corralejo and El Jable to the north which are made up of fine sand dunes whilst the south is filled with long beaches and remote bays. The constant winds blowing onto the beaches provide a paradise for windsurfing. Surfing is common on the west and north coasts where there are large waves. Windsurfing is common around Corralejo and Playas de Sotavento and wave sailing (windsurfing on the waves) on the coast along the northern half of the island. El Cotillo is a small fishing village in the north-west of the Island famous for a very long beach to the south of the village and few very calm beaches to the north. The northern beaches frequented by snorkeling enthusiasts and sun worshippers alike are referred to as lakes by the locals.
At Cofete on the western side of Jandía a remote and imposing house – Villa Winter – looks out to sea across wide beaches. It was reputedly built by a Mr Winter on land given by Generalisimo Franco.
For a time, the beaches were home to a popular accidental attraction. On 18 January 1994 the United States Lines ocean liner SS American Star (former America, USS West Point, Australis) was beached in Playa de Garcey during a severe storm. Within a year, she broke in two and later lost her stern. By 2007 the rest of the severely deteriorated ship had collapsed onto her port side, gradually keeling over further and almost completely submerged. By 2008–2012, most of the remains finally slipped below the surface.
== Food ==
The cuisine is fairly basic due to the customs and climate conditions. They share this simplicity with the other Canary islands, and similarly to them, they use a large quantity of fish. They also use whatever they can grow in the near-barren land. This includes papas arrugadas, a dish of wrinkled potatoes usually served with mojo, which is a hot pepper sauce or with puchero canario, a meat stew.
Seafood is prepared in many ways traditionally, such as pejines (salted fish), jareas, or sancocho (a type of stew) made from fish, generally the grouper, corvina or sama, boiled after salting, and served with mojo, potatoes, or gofio (a type of grain). People are also very keen on the mussels and limpets collected on the island's coasts.
They also use meat such as beef and pork to make different dishes or simply to for braising, but their main meat is goat, both from the kids and from the older animals. They eat the goat roasted or stewed. Goats are not only useful for their meat – the Fuerteventurans also use the milk to make the cheese majorero, which has won many prizes. The majorero is mostly made of goats milk, and occasionally it is up to 15% ewes milk. It is cured in pimento oil or gofio meal. Majorero and palmero cheese are the only two Canarian cheeses with protected denomination of origin.
== Transport and communications ==
The main methods of arriving and departing the islands are by flying and by ferry.
=== Airports ===
The airport is the main access point to the island. It is situated in El Matorral, 5 km (3.1 mi) southwest of the capital city Puerto del Rosario. The airport has flight connections to over 80 destinations worldwide, and over 5.6 million passengers passed through it in 2016. In 1994, the new airport terminal was constructed. In December 2009, the new facilities of the arrivals terminal of Fuerteventura Airport were inaugurated, tripling the space available in the old facilities. Up to 4000 passengers per hour can be served concurrently thanks to the new facilities.
Notably, Binter Canarias serves the airport as the regional airline connecting passengers across Canary Islands.
=== Ports ===
Maritime communications are made from four ports: Puerto del Rosario, Corralejo, Gran Tarajal and Morro Jable. Cargo operations are the main activity of the island's main port in Puerto del Rosario, although its facilities allow the docking of tourist cruises including a ferry from Gran Canaria. Passenger traffic is mainly channeled through Corralejo, Gran Tarajal and Morro Jable. The port of Corralejo connects the island with Lanzarote. The port of Gran Tarajal connects the island with Gran Canaria and Morro Jable connects the island with Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
=== Roads ===
There are two highways on the island: FV-1 and FV-2. The FV-1, together with the FV-2, is part of the major construction project of the north–south motorway on Fuerteventura.
The FV-1 begins in the north, in the town of Corralejo and ends in the island's capital Puerto del Rosario. FV-1 is part dual carriageway and part single carriageway. In the past, the FV-1 also ran through the Corralejo Dune Nature Reserve. In order to direct through traffic out of the nature reserve, the dual carriageway bypass around the nature reserve was opened in 2017 as the first section of the motorway after three years of construction, plus five years of construction delay. The road through nature reserve was renamed FV-104.
FV-2 connects Morro Jable and Puerto del Rosario. Between La Lajita and Morro Jable, FV-2 is a dual carriageway highway. Car rental companies that have offices in the airports are: Autoreisen, Avis, Cicar, Europcar, Goldcar, Hertz, Sixt and TopCar.
== Sport ==
Many sports are commonly played in Fuerteventura, both in the open air and in sports centres across the island.
=== Native sports ===
These are the Canarian sports found on the island:
==== Canarian wrestling ====
The wrestling takes place in a ring of sand called the terrero. Inside it, the two contestants try to knock each other over. Fuerteventura has 14 terreros distributed through all the towns except Betancuria.
Antigua: Terrero de Antigua.
La Oliva: Terrero Venancio Guerra and Terrero de Villaverde.
Pájara: Terrero Miguel Díaz La Lajita, Terrero de Morro Jable a Terrero de Pájara.
Puerto del Rosario: Terrero de Casillas del Angel, Terrero Manuel Nieves, Terrero de Puerto Cabras, Terrero de Tefía a Terrero de Tetir.
Tuineje: Terrero de Gran Tarajal, Terrero de Tamasite, and Terrero Pedro Sánchez in Tarajalejo.
The island also has a school wrestling league organized by the council and a programme to promote this sport in clubs. Twelve wrestling schools participate in this, based in Antigua, Costa Calma, El Matorral, La Lajita, Lajares, Las Playitas, Morro Jable, Puerto del Rosario, Tefía, Tetir, Unión Sur and Villaverde.
==== Juego del Palo ====
Juego del Palo is a Canarian martial art which literally translates as "game of the stick". It is played by two players both armed with sticks. They aim to defeat each other without making contact with their opponent's body. The origin of this game is unclear. All we know is that it is based on a method of combat used by the precolonial Canarian people.
Fuerteventura has the following Palo clubs:
Club-Escuela Dunas de Corralejo.
Club-Escuela Huriamen de Villaverde.
Club-Escuela Puerto Cabras.
Club-Escuela Sorinque de Gran Tarajal.
==== Canarian boules ====
This is a similar game to the French Pétanque which is actually played very little on the island, although there are a few teams and courts. Basically the game consists of scoring points by throwing a ball to get it as near as possible to an object called a mingue or boliche. It is played on a rectangular sand or earth pitch which is 18 to 25 m (59.1–82.0 ft) long and 3.5 to 6 m (11.5–19.7 ft) wide.
=== Watersports ===
The sea and climate conditions make the island the perfect place for a huge variety of watersports.
==== Surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing ====
Many types of surfing are popular on the island, including traditional surfing, windsurfing (where the board is propelled by a sail) and most recently kitesurfing. The island has many schools and courses dedicated to teaching these sports.
The sports where Fuerteventura has the most impact internationally are windsurfing and kitesurfing, mainly due to the International Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Championship. This has run since 1985 and is held at Playas de Sotavento in Pájara municipality. Many important wind and kitesurfing figures compete in this championship, such as the several-times world windsurfing champion Björn Dunkerbeck and Gisela Pulido, the very young kiteboarding champion from Tarifa.
Many Canarian windsurfers are on the Canarian Waveriders circuit, which has been based in Corralejo since 2005.
==== Diving ====
Diving schools are just as frequent as surfing ones, all around the coast of Fuerteventura. Unlike the other islands of the archipelago, Fuerteventura has a shelf which at some points goes up to 30 km (19 mi), making it an ideal place to practice this sport.
Two of the most useful points for diving are the coast off Playa del Matorral in the South, and the zone between Lobos Island and Corralejo in the north. It is here in Corralejo that the International Sea and Submarine Photography Festival takes places, known as Fimarsub Corralejo – Lobos. During the festival there are beginners' lessons, professional dives, lessons in underwater photography, screenings and other events related to the sport.
==== Swimming ====
There are many swimming pools on the island but the most obvious place to swim is in the open sea. There is an annual swim from Lobos Island to Fuerteventura, held every year since 1999. The event attracts amateur swimmers from all over the Canaries and Spain, and also swimming professionals such as David Meca and Maarten van der Weijden, the paralympist Jesús Collado Alarcón who won gold medals for 100m backstroke and butterfly in Athens 2004, and Xavi Torres Ramis, the paralympic champion in Barcelona 1992, Sydney and Atlanta.
==== Sailing ====
The island holds competitions involving different types of boat, such as the lateen and the Optimist. An interesting event is the Tour of Fuerteventura by Kayak, which is organised as a series of stages rather than a competition, and is an easy way to explore the island.
==== Fishing ====
The most notable competition here is the Gran Tarajal Fishing Open.
=== Other sports ===
Since 2004 the Marcha Ciclotourista has been held in La Oliva and the Criterium Ciclista has been held in Corralejo (also part of the La Oliva municipality) since 2005. Participants include Euskaltel–Euskadi, T-Mobile and a team from Orbea. These competitions have contributed to local interest in the sport and the first professional local team, the Fuerteventura–Canarias, was formed, initially run by Óscar Guerrero, director of Kaiku, although they have not competed for the past few seasons.
There are various motocross circuits on the island, including Los Alares in Antigua and Isla de Fuerteventura in Puerto del Rosario municipality. They hold regular trials, some of which form part of the Canarian Regional Motocross Championship. Throughout the year there are gravel rally races. Two are part of the Canarian Dirt Rally Championship. These are the Antiguan Rally and the La Oliva Rally.
The island's main football clubs are CD Union Puerto and CD Cotillo, who play in Group XII of the Spanish Tercera División RFEF.
The resort Playitas on the south coast is since around 2008 equipped with a 50 m (160 ft) swimming pool and has become a destination for triathlon training camps for Europeans. An annual race called Challenge Fuerteventura is held there on the half ironman distance.
== People ==
Manuel Velázquez Cabrera: born in Tiscamanita in 1863, the politician and lawyer who created the island's council.
Juan Ismael: painter, cartoonist and poet born in La Oliva in 1907, considered one of the great Canarian surrealists.
Eustaquio Gopar: born in Tuineje in 1866. He was one of the Spanish soldiers involved in the Siege of Baler together with Major Rafael Alonso Mederos, who died of beri-beri during the siege. On his return Eustaquio became mayor over his native people. He held this post both during the republic and under Franco. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War | Falklands War | The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
The conflict was a major episode in the protracted dispute over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina claimed (and maintains) that the islands are Argentine territory, and the Argentine government thus described its military action as the reclamation of its own territory. The British government, however, regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and strongly favour British sovereignty. Neither state officially declared war, although both governments declared the islands a war zone.
The conflict had a strong effect in both countries and has been the subject of various books, articles, films and songs. Patriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the unfavourable outcome prompted large protests against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall and the democratisation of the country. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative government, bolstered by the successful outcome, was re-elected with an increased majority the following year. The cultural and political effect of the conflict has been less in the UK than in Argentina, where it has remained a common topic for discussion.
Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were restored in 1989 following a meeting in Madrid, at which the two governments issued a joint statement. No change in either country's position regarding the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was made explicit. In 1994 Argentina adopted a new constitution, which declared the Falkland Islands as part of one of its provinces by law. However, the islands continue to operate as a self-governing British Overseas Territory.
== Prelude ==
=== Failed diplomacy ===
In 1965, the United Nations called upon Argentina and the United Kingdom to reach a settlement of the sovereignty dispute. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) regarded the islands as a nuisance and barrier to UK trade in South America. Therefore, while confident of British sovereignty, the FCO was prepared to cede the islands to Argentina. When news of a proposed transfer broke in 1968, elements sympathetic with the plight of the islanders were able to organise an effective parliamentary lobby to frustrate the FCO plans. Negotiations continued, but in general failed to make meaningful progress; the islanders steadfastly refused to consider Argentine sovereignty on one side, whilst Argentina would not compromise over sovereignty on the other. The FCO then sought to make the islands dependent on Argentina, hoping this would make the islanders more amenable to Argentine sovereignty. A Communications Agreement signed in 1971 created an airlink and later, YPF, the Argentine oil company, was given a monopoly on the islands.
In 1977 the British prime minister, James Callaghan, in response to heightened tensions in the region and the Argentine occupation of Southern Thule, secretly sent a force of two frigates and a nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Dreadnought, to the South Atlantic, codenamed Operation Journeyman. It is unclear whether the Argentines were aware of their presence, but British sources state that they were advised of it through informal channels. Nevertheless, talks with Argentina on Falklands sovereignty and economic cooperation opened in December 1977, though they proved inconclusive.
In 1980 a new UK Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Nicholas Ridley, went to the Falklands trying to sell the islanders the benefits of a leaseback scheme, which met with strong opposition from the islanders. On his return to London in December 1980, he reported to Parliament, but was viciously attacked over what was seen as a sellout. It was unlikely that leaseback idea would have progressed further anyway since the British had sought a long-term lease of 99 years, whereas Argentina was pressing for a much shorter period of only thirty years. At a private committee meeting that evening, it was reported that Ridley said: "If we don't do something, they will invade. And there is nothing we could do."
=== The Argentine junta ===
In the period leading up to the war—and, in particular following the transfer of power between the military dictators General Jorge Rafael Videla and General Roberto Eduardo Viola late in March 1981—Argentina had been in the midst of devastating economic stagnation and large-scale civil unrest against the National Reorganisation Process, the military junta that had been governing the country since 1976.
In December 1981, there was a further change in the Argentine military regime, bringing to office a new junta headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri (acting president), Air Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo and Admiral Jorge Anaya. Anaya was the main architect and supporter of a military solution for the long-standing claim over the islands, expecting that the United Kingdom would never respond militarily.
By opting for military action, the Galtieri government hoped to mobilise the long-standing patriotic feelings of Argentines towards the islands, diverting public attention from the chronic economic problems and the ongoing human rights violations of its Dirty War, bolstering the junta's dwindling legitimacy. The newspaper La Prensa speculated on a step-by-step plan beginning with cutting off supplies to the islands, ending in direct actions late in 1982, if the UN talks were fruitless.
The ongoing tension between the two countries over the islands increased on 19 March, when a group of Argentine scrap metal merchants (which had been infiltrated by Argentine Marines) raised the Argentine flag at South Georgia Island, an act that would later be seen as the first offensive action in the war. The Royal Navy ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance was dispatched from Stanley to South Georgia on the 25th in response. The Argentine military junta, suspecting that the UK would reinforce its South Atlantic Forces, ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands to be brought forward to 2 April.
The UK was taken by surprise by the Argentine attack on the South Atlantic islands, despite repeated warnings by Captain Nicholas Barker (Commanding Officer of the Endurance) and others. Barker believed that Defence Secretary John Nott's 1981 Defence White Paper, in which Nott described plans to withdraw the Endurance, the UK's only naval presence in the South Atlantic, had sent a signal to the Argentines that the UK was unwilling, and would soon be unable, to defend its territories and subjects in the Falklands.
== Argentine invasion ==
On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious landings, known as Operation Rosario, on the Falkland Islands. The invasion was met with a fierce but brief defence organised by the Falkland Islands' Governor, Sir Rex Hunt, giving command to Major Mike Norman of the Royal Marines. The garrison consisted of 68 marines and eleven naval hydrographers, assisted by 23 volunteers of the Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF), who had few weapons and were used as lookouts.
The invasion started with the landing of Lieutenant Commander Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots' Amphibious Commandos Group, who attacked the empty Moody Brook barracks and then moved on Government House in Stanley. When the 2nd Marine Infantry Battalion with Assault Amphibious Vehicles arrived, the governor ordered a ceasefire and surrendered. The governor, his family and the British military personnel were flown to Montevideo, Uruguay, that afternoon and later repatriated to the United Kingdom.
=== Initial British response ===
The British had already taken action prior to the 2 April invasion. In response to events on South Georgia, on 29 March ministers decided to send the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Fort Austin south from the Mediterranean to support HMS Endurance, and the nuclear-powered fleet submarine HMS Spartan from Gibraltar, with HMS Splendid ordered south from Scotland the following day. Lord Carrington had wished to send a third submarine, but the decision was deferred due to concerns about the impact on operational commitments. Coincidentally, on 26 March, the submarine HMS Superb left Gibraltar and it was assumed in the press she was heading south. There has since been speculation that the effect of those reports was to panic the Argentine junta into invading the Falklands before submarines could be deployed; however, post-war research has established that the final decision to proceed was made at a junta meeting in Buenos Aires on 23 March.
The following day, during a crisis meeting headed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, advised that "Britain could and should send a task force if the islands are invaded". On 1 April, Leach sent orders to a Royal Navy force carrying out exercises in the Mediterranean to prepare to sail south. Following the invasion on 2 April, after an emergency meeting of the cabinet, approval was given to form a task force to retake the islands. This was backed in an emergency sitting of the House of Commons the next day.
Word of the invasion first reached the UK from Argentine sources. A Ministry of Defence operative in London had a short telex conversation with Governor Hunt's telex operator, who confirmed that Argentines were on the island and in control. Later that day, the BBC journalist Laurie Margolis spoke with an islander at Goose Green via amateur radio, who confirmed the presence of a large Argentine fleet and that Argentine forces had taken control of the island. British military operations in the Falklands War were given the codename Operation Corporate, and the commander of the task force was Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse. Operations lasted from 1 April 1982 to 20 June 1982.
On 6 April the British government set up a War Cabinet to provide day-to-day political oversight of the campaign. This was the critical instrument of crisis management for the British with its remit being to "keep under review political and military developments relating to the South Atlantic, and to report as necessary to the Defence and Overseas Policy Committee". The War Cabinet met at least daily until it was dissolved on 12 August. Although Margaret Thatcher is described as dominating the War Cabinet, Lawrence Freedman notes in the Official History of the Falklands Campaign that she did not ignore opposition or fail to consult others. However, once a decision was reached, she "did not look back".
=== United Nations Security Council Resolution 502 ===
On 31 March 1982 the Argentine ambassador to the UN, Eduardo Roca, began attempting to garner support against a British military build-up designed to thwart earlier UN resolutions calling for both countries to resolve the Falklands dispute through discussion. On 2 April, the night of the invasion, a banquet was held at Roca's official residence for the US ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and several high-ranking officials of the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Defense. This led British diplomats to view Kirkpatrick, who had earlier called for closer relationships with South American dictatorships, with considerable suspicion.
On 1 April London told the UK ambassador to the UN, Sir Anthony Parsons, that an invasion was imminent and he should call an urgent meeting of the Security Council to get a favourable resolution against Argentina. Parsons had to get nine affirmative votes from the 15 Council members (not a simple majority) and to avoid a blocking vote from any of the other four permanent members. The meeting took place at 11:00 am on 3 April, New York time (4:00 pm in London). United Nations Security Council Resolution 502 was adopted by 10 to 1 (with Panama voting against) and 4 abstentions. Significantly, the Soviet Union and China both abstained. The resolution stated:
This was a significant win for the UK, giving it the upper hand diplomatically. The draft resolution Parsons submitted had avoided any reference to the sovereignty dispute (which might have worked against the UK): instead it focused on Argentina's breach of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which forbids the threat or use of force to settle disputes. The resolution called for the removal only of Argentine forces: this freed Britain to retake the islands militarily, if Argentina did not leave, by exercising its right to self-defence allowed under the UN Charter.
=== Argentine occupation ===
The Argentine Army unit designated for the occupation was the 25th Infantry Regiment (Argentina), a force of about 681 men specially trained and drawn from various regions of Argentina; it was flown into Port Stanley Airport as soon as the runway had been cleared. Once it became clear that the British were sending an amphibious task force, there was a general recall of reservists and two brigades with eight infantry regiments and support units were dispatched to the islands. By early May, the total Argentine garrison numbered around 13,000 troops. Conscripts from the 1963 intake had only recently been called up, so the previous year's intake was also recalled. Brigadier General Mario Benjamín Menéndez was appointed Military Governor of the Falklands.
Argentine military police arrived with detailed files on many islanders, allowing intelligence officer Major Patricio Dowling to arrest and interrogate those suspected of opposing the occupation. Initially, some islanders deemed anti-Argentine were expelled, including the Luxton family and David Colville, editor of the Falklands Times. This move backfired, as those expelled gave interviews to the press. Later, 14 other community leaders, including the senior medical officer, were interned at Fox Bay on West Falkland. Concerned by Dowling’s conduct, senior Argentine officers removed him from the islands. For nearly a month, the civilian population of Goose Green was confined in the village hall under unpleasant conditions. Similar detentions were reported in other settlements.
As part of the Argentine occupation, a medical and demographic survey was carried out, including the island's first-ever population census and analysis of blood types, including the Rh factor. This data had been lacking previously and its absence had posed serious risks for blood transfusions.
Due to food shortages and poor logistical support, some Argentine conscripts resorted to slaughtering sheep belonging to islanders in the Goose Green area as a means of survival.
Argentine officers and NCOs were accused of imposing harsh field punishments on conscripts. According to accounts like that of Private Alan Craig, food rations often arrived opened or with missing items. Troops garrisoning Port Howard reported severe food deprivation, and according to Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins in The Battle for the Falklands (1984), attempts to go absent without leave were punished by beatings or being forced to sit for hours with bare feet in freezing water. Private Rito Portillo and Private Remigio Fernández were reportedly executed or died as a result of abuse by their own officers. Upon returning to the mainland, many soldiers were allegedly forced to sign non-disclosure agreements.
=== Shuttle diplomacy ===
On 8 April Alexander Haig, the United States Secretary of State, arrived in London on a shuttle diplomacy mission from US President Ronald Reagan to broker a peace deal based on an interim authority taking control of the islands pending negotiations. After hearing from Thatcher that the task force would not be withdrawn unless the Argentines evacuated their troops, Haig headed for Buenos Aires. There he met the junta and Nicanor Costa Méndez, the foreign minister. Haig was treated coolly and told that Argentine sovereignty must be a pre-condition of any talks.
Returning to London on 11 April, he found the British cabinet in no mood for compromise. Haig flew back to Washington before returning to Buenos Aires for a final protracted round of talks. These made little progress, but just as Haig and his mission were leaving, they were told that Galtieri would meet them at the airport VIP lounge to make an important concession; however, this was cancelled at the last minute. On 30 April the Reagan administration announced that they would be publicly supporting the United Kingdom.
== British task force ==
The nuclear-powered submarine Conqueror set sail from Faslane, Scotland on 4 April. The two aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes and their escort vessels left Portsmouth, England only a day later. On its return to Southampton from a world cruise on 7 April, the ocean liner SS Canberra was requisitioned and set sail two days later with the 3 Commando Brigade aboard. The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was also requisitioned, and left Southampton on 12 May, with the 5th Infantry Brigade on board. The whole task force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, and 62 merchant ships.
The retaking of the Falkland Islands was considered extremely difficult. The chances of a British counter-invasion succeeding were assessed by the US Navy, according to the historian Arthur L. Herman, as "a military impossibility". Firstly, the British were significantly constrained by the disparity in deployable air cover. The British had 42 aircraft (28 Sea Harriers and 6 Harrier GR.3s) available for air combat operations, against approximately 122 serviceable jet fighters, of which about 50 were used as air superiority fighters and the remainder as strike aircraft, in Argentina's air forces during the war. Crucially, the British lacked airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft. Planning also considered the Argentine surface fleet and the threat posed by Exocet-equipped vessels or the two Type 209 submarines.
By mid-April the Royal Air Force had set up an airbase on RAF Ascension Island, co-located with Wideawake Airfield, on the mid-Atlantic British overseas territory of Ascension Island. They included a sizeable force of Avro Vulcan B Mk 2 bombers, Handley Page Victor K Mk 2 refuelling aircraft, and McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR Mk 2 fighters to protect them. Meanwhile, the main British naval task force arrived at Ascension to prepare for active service. A small force had already been sent south to recapture South Georgia.
Encounters began in April; the British Task Force was shadowed by a Boeing 707 aircraft of the Argentine Air Force during their travel to the south. Several of these flights were intercepted by Sea Harriers outside the British-imposed Total Exclusion Zone; the unarmed 707s were not attacked because diplomatic moves were still in progress and the UK had not yet decided to commit itself to armed force. On 23 April, a Brazilian commercial Douglas DC-10 from VARIG Airlines en route to South Africa was intercepted by British Harriers who visually identified the civilian plane.
=== Recapture of South Georgia and the attack on Santa Fe ===
The South Georgia force, Operation Paraquet, under the command of Major Guy Sheridan RM, consisted of Marines from 42 Commando, a troop of the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) troops who were intended to land as reconnaissance forces for an invasion by the Royal Marines, a total of 240 men. All were embarked on RFA Tidespring. First to arrive was the Churchill-class submarine HMS Conqueror on 19 April, and the island was over-flown by a Handley Page Victor aircraft with radar-mapping equipment on 20 April, to establish that no Argentine ships were in the vicinity.
The first landings of SAS and SBS troops took place on 21 April, but an ill-advised mission to establish an SAS observation post on the Fortuna Glacier had to be withdrawn after two helicopters crashed in fog and high winds. On 23 April a submarine alert was sounded and operations were halted, with Tidespring being withdrawn to deeper water to avoid interception. On 24 April British forces regrouped and headed in to attack.
On 25 April, after resupplying the Argentine garrison in South Georgia, the submarine ARA Santa Fe was spotted on the surface by a Westland Wessex HAS Mk 3 helicopter from HMS Antrim, which attacked the Argentine submarine with depth charges. HMS Plymouth launched a Westland Wasp HAS.Mk.1 helicopter, and HMS Brilliant launched a Westland Lynx HAS Mk 2. The Lynx launched a torpedo, and strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted general purpose machine gun; the Wessex also fired on Santa Fe with its GPMG. The Wasp from HMS Plymouth as well as two other Wasps launched from HMS Endurance fired AS-12 ASM antiship missiles at the submarine, scoring hits. Santa Fe was damaged badly enough to prevent her from diving. The crew abandoned the submarine at the jetty at King Edward Point on South Georgia.
With Tidespring now far out to sea and the Argentine forces augmented by the submarine's crew, Major Sheridan decided to gather the 76 men he had and make a direct assault that day. After a short forced march by the British troops and a naval bombardment demonstration by two Royal Navy vessels (Antrim and Plymouth), the Argentine forces, a total of 190 men, surrendered without resistance to the Royal Marines. The message sent from the naval force at South Georgia to London was, "Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God Save the Queen." The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, broke the news to the media, telling them to "Just rejoice at that news, and congratulate our forces and the Marines!"
=== Black Buck raids ===
On 1 May, British operations on the Falklands opened with the "Black Buck 1" attack (of a series of five) on the airfield at Stanley. A Vulcan bomber from Ascension flew an 8,000-nautical-mile (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) round trip, dropping conventional bombs across the runway at Stanley. The mission required repeated aerial refuelling using several Victor K2 tanker aircraft operating in concert, including tanker-to-tanker refuelling.
The overall effect of the raids on the war is difficult to determine; historian Lawrence Freedman, who was given access to official sources, comments that the significance of the Vulcan raids remains a subject of controversy. Although they took pressure off the small Sea Harrier force, the raids were costly and used a great deal of resources. The runway was cratered by only one of the twenty one bombs, with the single hit to the edge of the runway probably the best that could have been expected. Contrary to some reports, this reduced the capability of the runway to operate Mirage III fast jets but not other, smaller jet fighters, the Pucara, and the Hercules C-130, nor did it cause the Argentine air force to deploy Mirage IIIs to defend the capital.
Some sources have claimed that, as a result of the raid, the Argentines realised that their mainland was vulnerable and fighter aircraft were redeployed from the theatre to bases further north, but later Argentine sources confirm that the Vulcan raids did not influence Argentina's decision to move some of its Mirage IIIs from southern Argentina to the Buenos Aires Defence Zone. This dissuasive effect was watered down when British officials made clear that there would not be strikes on air bases in Argentina. The raids were later dismissed as propaganda by Falklands veteran Commander Nigel Ward.
Of the five Black Buck raids, three were against Stanley Airfield, with the other two being anti-radar missions using Shrike anti-radiation missiles.
=== Escalation of the air war ===
The Falklands had only three airfields. The longest and only paved runway was at the capital, Stanley, and even that was too short to support fast jets. Therefore, the Argentines were forced to launch their major strikes from the mainland, severely hampering their efforts at forward staging, combat air patrols, and close air support over the islands. The effective loiter time of incoming Argentine aircraft was low, limiting the ability of fighters to protect attack aircraft, which were often compelled to attack the first target of opportunity, rather than selecting the most lucrative target.
The first major Argentine strike force comprised 36 aircraft (A-4 Skyhawks, IAI Daggers, English Electric Canberras, and Mirage III escorts), and was sent on 1 May, in the belief that the British Liberation was imminent or landings had already taken place. Only a section of Grupo 6 (flying IAI Dagger aircraft) found ships, which were firing at Argentine defences near the islands. The Daggers managed to attack the ships and return safely. This greatly boosted the morale of the Argentine pilots, who now knew they could survive an attack against modern warships, protected by radar ground clutter from the islands and by using a late pop up profile. Meanwhile, other Argentine aircraft were intercepted by BAE Sea Harriers operating from HMS Invincible. A Dagger and a Canberra were shot down.
Combat broke out between Sea Harrier FRS Mk 1 fighters of No. 801 Naval Air Squadron and Mirage III fighters of Grupo 8. Both sides refused to fight at the other's best altitude, until two Mirages finally descended to engage. One was shot down by an AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile (AAM), while the other escaped but was damaged and without enough fuel to return to its mainland airbase. The plane made for Stanley, where it fell victim to friendly fire from the Argentine defenders.
As a result of this experience, Argentine Air Force staff decided to employ A-4 Skyhawks and Daggers only as strike units, the Canberras only during the night, and Mirage IIIs (without air refuelling capability or any capable AAM) as decoys to lure away the British Sea Harriers. The decoying would be later extended with the formation of the Escuadrón Fénix, a squadron of civilian jets flying 24 hours a day, simulating strike aircraft preparing to attack the fleet. On one of these flights on 7 June, an Air Force Learjet 35A was shot down by HMS Exeter, killing the squadron commander, Vice Commodore Rodolfo de la Colina, the highest-ranking Argentine officer to die in the war. British command was concerned about the high attrition of Harriers brought down by anti-air, and committed to use them predominately for air superiority. The Harriers were observed to be far more effective than ship-launched missiles to destroy attacking Argentine aircraft, however at times the operations of Harriers in the air would interfere with a vessel's anti-air systems.
Stanley was used as an Argentine strongpoint throughout the conflict. Despite the Black Buck and Harrier raids on Stanley airfield (no fast jets were stationed there for air defence) and overnight shelling by detached ships, it was never out of action entirely. Stanley was defended by a mixture of surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems (Franco-German Roland and British Tigercat) and light anti-aircraft guns, including Swiss-built Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannons and 30 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon and German Rheinmetall 20 mm twin anti-aircraft cannons. More of the anti-aircraft guns were deployed to the airstrip at Goose Green. Lockheed Hercules transport night flights brought supplies, weapons, vehicles, and fuel, and airlifted out the wounded up until the end of the conflict.
The only Argentine Hercules shot down by the British was lost on 1 June when TC-63 was intercepted by a Sea Harrier in daylight as it was searching for the British fleet north-east of the islands, after the Argentine Navy retired its last SP-2H Neptune due to unreliability.
Various options to attack the home base of the five Argentine Étendards at Río Grande were examined and discounted (Operation Mikado); subsequently five Royal Navy submarines were lined up, submerged, on the edge of Argentina's 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial limit to provide early warning of bombing raids on the British task force.
Operation Folklore was a plan to deploy two Canberra PR.9 aircraft of No. 39 Squadron RAF, disguised in Chilean Air Force markings, to the Chilean air base at Punta Arenas, with the intention of undertaking high-level photo-reconnaissance flights over the Falklands; however the Canberras had reached Belize when the operation was abandoned after part of the plan had been reported in the British press. Operation Acme was the deployment of a single Nimrod R.1 surveillance aircraft of No. 51 Squadron RAF to the Chilean base at Isla San Félix to gather signals intelligence from Argentinian forces in the Falklands; three sorties were conducted, the last on 17 May narrowly avoided being shot down by the Chileans, leading to the cancellation of the operation. More successful was Operation Fingent, the placement of a Marconi S259 radar on high ground in Tierra del Fuego from where it could monitor movements at southern Argentinian air bases; the RAF crew wore civilian clothes in the guise of a sales team. Information was passed to Northwood and the Task Force by means of Operation Shutter, a US supplied SATCOM system installed at the Chilean Air Force headquarters in Santiago and operated by two soldiers of the Royal Corps of Signals.
=== Sinking of ARA General Belgrano ===
On 30 April the British government had brought into force a 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometre; 230-mile) Total Exclusion Zone (TEZ) to replace the previous Maritime Exclusion Zone; aircraft as well as ships of any nation were liable to be attacked inside it, if they were aiding the Argentine occupation. Admiral Sandy Woodward's carrier battle group of twelve warships and three supply ships entered the TEZ on 1 May, shortly before the first Black Buck raid, intending to degrade Argentine air and sea forces before the arrival of the amphibious group two weeks later. In anticipation, Admiral Anaya had deployed all his available warships into three task groups. The first was centred around the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo with two old but missile-armed destroyers, and a second comprised three modern frigates. Both these groups were intended to approach the TEZ from the north. A third group approaching from the south was led by the Second World War-vintage Argentine light cruiser ARA General Belgrano; although old, her large guns and heavy armour made her a serious threat.
On 1 May the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror (one of three patrolling the TEZ) located the General Belgrano group and followed it until the following day, when it was about 12 hours away from the Task Force and just outside the Total Exclusion Zone. Admiral Woodward was aware of the Argentine carrier group approaching from the other direction and ordered the cruiser to be attacked to avoid being caught in a pincer movement; he was unaware that Veinticinco de Mayo had failed to gain enough headwind to launch her aircraft. The order to sink the cruiser was confirmed by the War Cabinet in London and General Belgrano was hit by two torpedoes at 4 pm local time on 2 May, sinking an hour later. 321 members of General Belgrano's crew, along with two civilians on board the ship, died in the incident. More than 700 men were eventually rescued from the open ocean despite cold seas and stormy weather, enduring up to 30 hours in overcrowded life rafts. The loss of General Belgrano drew heavy criticism from Latin American countries and from opponents of the war in Britain; support for the British cause wavered amongst some European allies, but the United States remained supportive.
The sinking had a crucial strategic effect: the elimination of the Argentine naval threat. After her loss, the entire Argentine fleet, with the exception of the diesel-powered submarine ARA San Luis, returned to port and did not leave again during the fighting. This had the secondary effect of allowing the British to redeploy their nuclear submarines to the coast of Argentina, where they were able to provide early warning of outgoing air attacks leaving mainland bases.
The sinking generated significant controversy, including disagreement about the exact nature of the exclusion zone and whether General Belgrano had been returning to port at the time of the sinking. However, in 2003 the ship's captain, Hector Bonzo, stated to a documentary crew that General Belgrano had been manoeuvring, not sailing away from the exclusion zone, and that he had orders to sink any British ship he could find.
In a separate incident later that night, British forces engaged an Argentine patrol gunboat, the ARA Alferez Sobral, that was searching for the crew of an Argentine Air Force Canberra light bomber shot down on 1 May. Two Royal Navy Lynx helicopters, from HMS Coventry and HMS Glasgow, fired four Sea Skua missiles at her. Badly damaged and with eight crew dead, Alferez Sobral managed to return to Puerto Deseado two days later. The Canberra's crew were never found.
=== Sinking of HMS Sheffield ===
On 4 May, two days after the sinking of General Belgrano, the British lost the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield to fire following an Exocet missile strike from the Argentine 2nd Naval Air Fighter/Attack Squadron.
Sheffield had been ordered forward with two other Type 42s to provide a long-range radar and medium-high altitude missile picket far from the British carriers. She was struck amidships, with devastating effect, ultimately killing 20 crew members and severely injuring 24 others. The ship was abandoned several hours later, gutted and deformed by fires. For four days she was kept afloat for inspections and the hope that she might attract Argentine submarines which could be hunted by helicopter. The decision was then taken to tow her to Ascension, but while under tow by HMS Yarmouth, she finally sank east of the Falklands on 10 May.
The incident is described in detail by Admiral Woodward in his book One Hundred Days, in Chapter One. Woodward was a former commanding officer of Sheffield. The destruction of Sheffield, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in action since the Second World War, had a profound impact on the War Cabinet and the British public as a whole, bringing home the fact that the conflict was now an actual shooting war.
=== Diplomatic activity ===
The tempo of operations increased throughout the first half of May as the United Nations' attempts to mediate a peace were rejected by the Argentines. The final British negotiating position was presented to Argentina by UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar on 18 May 1982. In it, the British abandoned their previous "red-line" that British administration of the islands should be restored on the withdrawal of Argentine forces, as supported by United Nations Security Council Resolution 502.
Instead, it proposed a UN administrator should supervise the mutual withdrawal of both Argentine and British forces, then govern the islands in consultation with the representative institutions of the islands, including Argentines, although no Argentines lived there. Reference to "self-determination" of the islanders was dropped and the British proposed that future negotiations over the sovereignty of the islands should be conducted by the UN. However, the proposals were rejected by the Argentines on the same day.
=== Special forces operations ===
Given the threat to the British fleet posed by the Étendard-Exocet combination, plans were made to use C-130s to fly in SAS troops to attack the home base of the five Étendards at Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego. The operation was codenamed "Mikado". The operation was later scrapped, after acknowledging that its chances of success were limited, and replaced with a plan to use the submarine HMS Onyx to drop SBS marines several miles offshore at night for them to make their way to the coast aboard rubber inflatables and proceed to destroy Argentina's remaining Exocet stockpile – which did not exist at their objective.
An SAS reconnaissance team was dispatched to carry out preparations for a seaborne infiltration. A Westland Sea King helicopter carrying the assigned team took off from HMS Invincible on the night of 17 May, but bad weather forced it to land 50 miles (80 km) from its target and the mission was aborted. The pilot flew to Chile, landed south of Punta Arenas, and dropped off the SAS team. The helicopter's crew of three then destroyed the aircraft, surrendered to Chilean police on 25 May, and were repatriated to the UK after interrogation. The discovery of the burnt-out helicopter attracted considerable international attention. Meanwhile, the SAS team crossed the border and penetrated into Argentina, but cancelled their mission after the Argentines suspected an SAS operation and deployed some 2,000 troops to search for them. The SAS men were able to return to Chile and took a civilian flight back to the UK.
On 14 May the SAS carried out a raid on Pebble Island on the Falklands, where the Argentine Navy had taken over a grass airstrip map for FMA IA 58 Pucará light ground-attack aircraft and Beechcraft T-34 Mentors, which resulted in the destruction of several aircraft.
On 15 May, SBS teams were inserted by HMS Brilliant at Grantham Sound to reconnoitre and observe the landing beaches at San Carlos Bay. On the evening of 20 May, the day before the main landings, an SBS troop and artillery observers were landed by Wessex helicopters for an assault on an Argentine observation post at Fanning Head which overlooked the entrance of the bay; meanwhile, the SAS conducted a diversionary raid at Darwin.
== Air attacks ==
In the landing zone, the limitations of the British ships' anti-aircraft defences were demonstrated in the sinking of HMS Ardent on 21 May which was hit by nine bombs, and HMS Antelope on 24 May when attempts to defuse unexploded bombs failed. Out at sea with the carrier battle group, MV Atlantic Conveyor was struck by an air-launched Exocet on 25 May, which caused the loss of three out of four Chinook and five Wessex helicopters as well as their maintenance equipment and facilities, together with runway-building equipment and tents. This was a severe blow from a logistical perspective. Twelve of her crew members were killed.
Also lost on 25 May was HMS Coventry, a sister to Sheffield, whilst in company with HMS Broadsword after being ordered to act as a decoy to draw away Argentine aircraft from other ships at San Carlos Bay. HMS Argonaut and HMS Brilliant were moderately damaged.
Many British ships escaped being sunk because of limitations imposed by circumstances on Argentine pilots. To avoid the highest concentration of British air defences, Argentine pilots released bombs at very low altitude, and hence those bomb fuzes did not have sufficient time to arm before impact. The low release of the retarded bombs, some of which the British had sold to the Argentines years earlier, meant that many never exploded, as there was insufficient time in the air for them to arm themselves.
The pilots would have been aware of this—but due to the high concentration required to avoid surface-to-air missiles, anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), and British Sea Harriers, many failed to climb to the necessary release point. The Argentine forces solved the problem by fitting improvised retarding devices, allowing the pilots to effectively employ low-level bombing attacks on 8 June.
Thirteen bombs hit British ships without detonating. Lord Craig, the retired Marshal of the Royal Air Force, is said to have remarked: "Six better fuses and we would have lost" although Ardent and Antelope were both lost despite the failure of bombs to explode, and Argonaut was put out of action. The fuzes were functioning correctly, and the bombs were simply released from too low an altitude. The Argentines lost 22 aircraft in the attacks.
In his autobiographical account of the Falklands War, Admiral Woodward blamed the BBC World Service for disclosing information that led the Argentines to change the retarding devices on the bombs. The World Service reported the lack of detonations after receiving a briefing on the matter from a Ministry of Defence official. He describes the BBC as being more concerned with being "fearless seekers after truth" than with the lives of British servicemen. Colonel 'H'. Jones levelled similar accusations against the BBC after they disclosed the impending British attack on Goose Green by 2 PARA.
On 30 May two Super Étendards, one carrying Argentina's last remaining Exocet, escorted by four A-4C Skyhawks each with two 500 lb bombs, took off to attack Invincible. Argentine intelligence had sought to determine the position of the carriers from analysis of aircraft flight routes from the task force to the islands. However, the British had a standing order that all aircraft conduct a low level transit when leaving or returning to the carriers to disguise their position. This tactic compromised the Argentine attack, which focused on a group of escorts 40 miles (64 km) south of the carrier group.
Two of the attacking Skyhawks were shot down by Sea Dart missiles fired by HMS Exeter, with HMS Avenger claiming to have shot down the Exocet missile with her 4.5" gun, although this claim is disputed. No damage was caused to any British vessels. During the war, Argentina claimed to have damaged Invincible and continues to do so, although no evidence of any such damage has been produced or uncovered.
== Land battles ==
=== San Carlos – "Bomb Alley" ===
During the night of 21 May, the British Amphibious Task Group under the command of Commodore Michael Clapp (Commodore, Amphibious Warfare – COMAW) mounted Operation Sutton, the amphibious landing on beaches around San Carlos Water, on the northwestern coast of East Falkland facing onto Falkland Sound. The bay, known as Bomb Alley by British forces, was the scene of repeated air attacks by low-flying Argentine jets.
The 4,000 men of 3 Commando Brigade were put ashore as follows: 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) from the RORO ferry Norland and 40 Commando Royal Marines from the amphibious ship HMS Fearless were landed at San Carlos (Blue Beach), 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (3 PARA) from the amphibious ship HMS Intrepid was landed at Port San Carlos (Green Beach) and 45 Commando from RFA Stromness was landed at Ajax Bay (Red Beach).
Notably, the waves of eight LCUs and eight LCVPs were led by Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour, who had commanded the Falklands detachment NP8901 from March 1978 to 1979. 42 Commando on the ocean liner SS Canberra was a tactical reserve. Units from the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, etc. and armoured reconnaissance vehicles were also put ashore with the landing craft, the Round Table-class LSL and mexeflote barges. Rapier missile launchers were carried as underslung loads of Sea Kings for rapid deployment.
By dawn the next day, they had established a secure beachhead from which to conduct offensive operations. Brigadier Julian Thompson established his brigade headquarters in dugouts near San Carlos Settlement.
=== Goose Green ===
From early on 27 May until 28 May, 2 PARA advanced towards and attacked Goose Green and Darwin, which were held by the Argentine 12th Infantry Regiment. The 700 men of 2 PARA had naval gunfire support from HMS Arrow and artillery support from 8 Commando Battery, Royal Artillery. After a prolonged and intense battle that lasted through the night and into the following day, the British secured victory. In total, 18 British and approximately 50 Argentine soldiers were killed. A further 961 Argentine personnel, including 202 members of the Argentine Air Force stationed at Condor airfield, were taken prisoner.
During the fighting, Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones, the commanding officer of 2 PARA, was killed while leading an assault on Argentine positions. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.
With the Argentine force at Goose Green neutralised, British forces were able to break out of the San Carlos beachhead and elements of 45 Commando and 3 PARA began a loaded march across East Falkland.
=== Special forces on Mount Kent ===
Meanwhile, 42 Commando prepared to move by helicopter to Mount Kent. Unbeknownst to senior British officers, the Argentine generals were determined to tie down the British troops in the Mount Kent area, and on 27 and 28 May they sent transport aircraft loaded with Blowpipe surface-to-air missiles and commandos (602nd Commando Company and 601st National Gendarmerie Special Forces Squadron) to Stanley. This operation was known as Autoimpuesta ("Self-imposed").
For the next week, the SAS and the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre (M&AWC) of 3 Commando Brigade waged intense patrol battles with patrols of the volunteers' 602nd Commando Company under Major Aldo Rico, normally second in Command of the 22nd Mountain Infantry Regiment. Throughout 30 May, Royal Air Force Harriers were active over Mount Kent. One of them, Harrier XZ963, flown by Squadron Leader Jerry Pook—responding to a call for help from D Squadron—attacked Mount Kent's eastern lower slopes, which led to its loss through small-arms fire. Pook was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
On 31 May, the M&AWC defeated Argentine Special Forces at the skirmish at Top Malo House. A 13-strong Argentine Army Commando detachment (Captain José Vercesi's 1st Assault Section, 602nd Commando Company) found itself trapped in a small shepherd's house at Top Malo. The Argentine commandos fired from windows and doorways and then took refuge in a stream bed 200 metres (700 ft) from the burning house. Completely surrounded, they fought 19 M&AWC marines under Captain Rod Boswell for 45 minutes until, with their ammunition almost exhausted, they elected to surrender.
Three Cadre members were badly wounded. On the Argentine side, there were two dead, including Lieutenant Ernesto Espinoza and Sergeant Mateo Sbert, who were posthumously decorated for their bravery. Only five Argentines were left unscathed. As the British secured Top Malo House, Lieutenant Fraser Haddow's M&AWC patrol came down from Malo Hill, brandishing a large Union Flag. One wounded Argentine soldier, Lieutenant Horacio Losito, commented that their escape route would have taken them through Haddows position.
601st Commando tried to move forward to rescue 602nd Commando Company on Estancia Mountain. Spotted by 42 Commando, they were engaged with L16 81 mm mortars and forced to withdraw to Two Sisters mountain. The leader of 602nd Commando Company on Estancia Mountain realised his position had become untenable, and after conferring with fellow officers ordered a withdrawal.
The Argentine operation also saw the extensive use of helicopter support to position and extract patrols; the 601st Combat Aviation Battalion also suffered casualties. At about 11:00 am on 30 May, an Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma helicopter was brought down by a shoulder-launched FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missile (SAM), fired by the SAS in the vicinity of Mount Kent. Six Argentine National Gendarmerie Special Forces were killed and eight more wounded in the crash.
As Brigadier Thompson commented: It was fortunate that I had ignored the views expressed by Northwood HQ that reconnaissance of Mount Kent before insertion of 42 Commando was superfluous. Had D Squadron not been there, the Argentine Special Forces would have caught the Commando before de-planing and, in the darkness and confusion on a strange landing zone, inflicted heavy casualties on men and helicopters.
=== Bluff Cove and Fitzroy ===
By 1 June, with the arrival of a further 5,000 British troops of the 5th Infantry Brigade, the new British divisional commander, Major General Jeremy Moore RM, had sufficient force to start planning an offensive against Stanley. During this build-up, the Argentine air assaults on the British naval forces continued, killing 56. Of the dead, 32 were from the Welsh Guards on RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram on 8 June. According to Surgeon-Commander Rick Jolly of the Falklands Field Hospital, more than 150 men suffered burns and injuries of some kind in the attack, including Simon Weston.
The Guards were sent to support an advance along the southern approach to Stanley. On 2 June a small advance party of 2 PARA moved to Swan Inlet house in a number of Army Westland Scout helicopters. Telephoning ahead to Fitzroy, they discovered that the area was clear of Argentines and (exceeding their authority) commandeered the one remaining RAF Chinook helicopter to frantically ferry another contingent of 2 Para ahead to Fitzroy (a settlement on Port Pleasant) and Bluff Cove (a settlement on Port Fitzroy).
This uncoordinated advance caused great difficulties in planning for the commanders of the combined operation, as they now found themselves with 30 miles (48 km) of indefensible positions, strung along their southern flank. Support could not be sent by air as the single remaining Chinook was already heavily oversubscribed. The soldiers could march, but their equipment and heavy supplies would need to be ferried by sea.
Plans were drawn up for half the Welsh Guards to march light on the night of 2 June, whilst the Scots Guards and the second half of the Welsh Guards were to be ferried from San Carlos Water in the Landing Ship Logistics (LSL) Sir Tristram and the landing platform dock (LPD) Intrepid on the night of 5 June. Intrepid was planned to stay one day and unload itself and as much of Sir Tristram as possible, leaving the next evening for the relative safety of San Carlos. Escorts would be provided for this day, after which Sir Tristram would be left to unload using a Mexeflote (a powered raft) for as long as it took to finish.
Political pressure from above to not risk the LPD forced Commodore Michael Clapp to alter this plan. Two lower-value LSLs would be sent, but with no suitable beaches to land on, Intrepid's landing craft would need to accompany them to unload. A complicated operation across several nights with Intrepid and her sister ship Fearless sailing half-way to dispatch their craft was devised.
The attempted overland march by half the Welsh Guards failed, possibly as they refused to march light and attempted to carry their equipment. They returned to San Carlos and landed directly at Bluff Cove when Fearless dispatched her landing craft. Sir Tristram sailed on the night of 6 June and was joined by Sir Galahad at dawn on 7 June. Anchored 1,200 feet (370 m) apart in Port Pleasant, the landing ships were near Fitzroy, the designated landing point. The landing craft should have been able to unload the ships to that point relatively quickly, but confusion over the ordered disembarkation point (the first half of the Guards going direct to Bluff Cove) resulted in the senior Welsh Guards infantry officer aboard insisting that his troops should be ferried the far longer distance directly to Port Fitzroy/Bluff Cove. The alternative was for the infantrymen to march via the recently repaired Bluff Cove bridge (destroyed by retreating Argentine combat engineers) to their destination, a journey of around seven miles (11 km).
There are conflicting accounts of the causes for the delay in disembarking the Welsh Guards contingent. One narrative posits that on Sir Galahad's stern ramp there was an argument about what to do. The officers on board were told that they could not sail to Bluff Cove in daylight. They were told that they had to get their men off ship and onto the beach as soon as possible as the ships were vulnerable to enemy aircraft. It would take 20 minutes to transport the men to shore using the LCU and Mexeflote. They would then have the choice of walking the seven miles to Bluff Cove or wait until dark to sail there. The officers on board said that they would remain on board until dark and then sail. They refused to take their men off the ship. They possibly doubted that the bridge had been repaired due to the presence on board Sir Galahad of the Royal Engineer Troop whose job it was to repair the bridge. The Welsh Guards were keen to rejoin the rest of their Battalion, who were potentially facing the enemy without their support. They had also not seen any enemy aircraft since landing at San Carlos and may have been overconfident in the air defences. Royal Marines Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour gave a direct order for the men to leave the ship and go to the beach; the order was ignored.
However, a contemporary Royal Navy report, partially declassified in 2024, throws into question the validity of this account. The investigative report states that "At no time was a direct order to disembark given to...[the officer commanding the Welsh Guards]...by a superior officer". Additionally, it is claimed that Sir Tristram, although receiving signals advising of Sir Galahad's arrival, failed to pass these onto the officers responsible for her unloading, who "...had not been warned of the arrival of the ship, nor of the nature of her cargo...no preparation had been made for the timely off-load of the new arrival."
The longer journey time of the landing craft taking the troops directly to Bluff Cove and the ambiguity over orders being issued to this effect caused an enormous delay in unloading. This had disastrous consequences, since the ships were visible to Argentine troops on Mount Harriet, some ten miles (16 km) distant. Without escorts, having not yet established their air defence, and still almost fully laden, the two LSLs in Port Pleasant were sitting targets for eight Argentine A-4 Skyhawks. A coordinated sortie by six Daggers attacked HMS Plymouth, which had the effect of drawing off the patrolling Sea Harriers. At 17.00, the Skyhawks attacked from seaward, hitting Sir Galahad with three bombs; although none exploded, they caused fierce fires which quickly grew out of control. Two bombs hit Sir Tristram, also starting fires and causing the ship to be abandoned, but the damage was not as serious. Three Sea King and a Wessex helicopter ferried the wounded to an advanced dressing station which was set up on the shore.
British casualties were 48 killed and 115 wounded. Three Argentine pilots were also killed. The air strike delayed the scheduled British ground attack on Stanley by two days. The British casualties amounted to two infantry companies, but it was decided not to release detailed casualty figures because intelligence indicated that Argentine commanders believed that a much more severe reverse had been inflicted. However, the disaster at Port Pleasant (although often known as Bluff Cove) would provide the world with some of the most sobering images of the war as ITV News video showed helicopters hovering in thick smoke to winch survivors from the burning landing ships.
=== Fall of Stanley ===
On the night of 11 June, after several days of painstaking reconnaissance and logistic build-up, British forces launched a brigade-sized night attack against the heavily defended ring of high ground surrounding Stanley. Units of 3 Commando Brigade, supported by naval gunfire from several Royal Navy ships, simultaneously attacked in the Battle of Mount Harriet, Battle of Two Sisters, and Battle of Mount Longdon. Mount Harriet was taken at a cost of 2 British and 18 Argentine soldiers. At Two Sisters, the British faced both enemy resistance and friendly fire but managed to capture their objectives. The toughest battle was at Mount Longdon. British forces were bogged down by rifle, mortar, machine gun, artillery and sniper fire, and ambushes. Despite this, the British continued their advance.
During this battle, 14 were killed when HMS Glamorgan, straying too close to shore while returning from the gun line, was struck by an improvised trailer-based Exocet MM38 launcher taken from the destroyer ARA Seguí by Argentine Navy technicians. On the same day, Sergeant Ian McKay of 4 Platoon, B Company, 3 PARA died in a grenade attack on an Argentine bunker; he received a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions. After a night of fierce fighting, all objectives were secured. Both sides suffered heavy losses.
The second phase of attacks began on the night of 13 June, and the momentum of the initial assault was maintained. 2 PARA, with light armour support from the Blues and Royals, captured Wireless Ridge, with the loss of 3 British and 25 Argentine lives, and the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards captured Mount Tumbledown at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, which cost 10 British and 30 Argentine lives. A simultaneous special forces raid by the SAS and SBS in fast boats to attack the oil tanks in Stanley Harbour was beaten off by anti-aircraft guns.
With the last natural defence line at Mount Tumbledown breached, the Argentine town defences of Stanley began to falter. In the morning gloom, one company commander got lost and his junior officers became despondent. Private Santiago Carrizo of the 3rd Regiment described how a platoon commander ordered them to take up positions in the houses and "if a Kelper resists, shoot him", but the entire company did nothing of the kind. A daylight attack on Mount William by the Gurkhas, delayed from the previous night by the fighting at Tumbledown, ended in anticlimax when the Argentine positions were found to be deserted.
A ceasefire was declared on 14 June and Thatcher announced the commencement of surrender negotiations. The commander of the Argentine garrison in Stanley, Brigade General Mario Menéndez, surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore the same day.
=== Subjugation of South Sandwich Islands ===
On 20 June the British retook the South Sandwich Islands, which involved accepting the surrender of the Southern Thule Garrison at the Corbeta Uruguay base and declared hostilities over. Argentina had established Corbeta Uruguay in 1976, but prior to 1982 the United Kingdom had contested the existence of the Argentine base only through diplomatic channels.
== Foreign involvement ==
=== Commonwealth ===
The UK received political support from member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand withdrew their diplomats from Buenos Aires.
==== New Zealand ====
The New Zealand government expelled the Argentine ambassador following the invasion. The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, was in London when the war broke out and in an opinion piece published in The Times he said: "The military rulers of Argentina must not be appeased ... New Zealand will back Britain all the way." Broadcasting on the BBC World Service, he told the Falkland Islanders: "This is Rob Muldoon. We are thinking of you and we are giving our full and total support to the British Government in its endeavours to rectify this situation and get rid of the people who have invaded your country." On 20 May 1982, he announced that New Zealand would make HMNZS Canterbury, a Leander-class frigate, available for use where the British thought fit to release a Royal Navy vessel for the Falklands. In the House of Commons afterwards, Margaret Thatcher said: "...the New Zealand Government and people have been absolutely magnificent in their support for this country [and] the Falkland Islanders, for the rule of liberty and of law".
==== Australia ====
Encouraged by the generous response of New Zealand, the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was rushed into offering to cancel the intended purchase of HMS Invincible which was quickly accepted by the British. However, this left the Royal Australian Navy without a replacement for their only aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne, which was in the process of decommissioning.
=== EEC ===
The European Economic Community provided economic support by imposing economic sanctions on Argentina. In a meeting on Good Friday, 9 April, at the Egmont Palace, the EEC Political Committee proposed a total import ban from Argentina. Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg and Ireland agreed immediately; France, Germany and the Netherlands were persuaded before the meeting ended. Italy, which had close cultural ties with Argentina, consented on the next day.
==== France ====
The French president, François Mitterrand, declared an embargo on French arms sales and assistance to Argentina. In addition, France allowed UK aircraft and warships use of its port and airfield facilities at Dakar in Senegal and France provided dissimilar aircraft training so that Harrier pilots could train against the French aircraft used by Argentina. French intelligence also cooperated with Britain to prevent Argentina from obtaining more Exocet missiles on the international market. In a 2002 interview, and in reference to this support, John Nott, the then British Defence Secretary, had described France as Britain's 'greatest ally'. In 2012, it came to light that while this support was taking place, a French technical team, employed by Dassault and already in Argentina, remained there throughout the war despite the presidential decree. The team had provided material support to the Argentines, identifying and fixing faults in Exocet missile launchers. John Nott said he had known the French team was there but said its work was thought not to be of any importance. An adviser to the then French government denied any knowledge at the time that the technical team was there. The French DGSE did know the team was there as they had an informant in the team but decried any assistance the team gave: "It's bordering on an act of treason, or disobedience to an embargo". John Nott, when asked whether he felt let down by the French, said, "If you're asking me: 'Are the French duplicitous people?' the answer is: 'Of course they are, and they always have been". Four Exocet missiles that had been ordered by Peru were prevented by the French government from being delivered by air and, after pressure from Britain who suspected that they would be passed on to Argentina, delayed their release to a Peruvian ship until the conflict was over.
=== United States ===
Declassified cables show the United States both felt that Thatcher had not considered diplomatic options and feared that a protracted conflict could draw the Soviet Union on Argentina's side. The US initially tried to mediate an end to the conflict through shuttle diplomacy, but when Argentina refused the American peace overtures, US Secretary of State Alexander Haig announced that the United States would prohibit arms sales to Argentina and provide material support for British operations. Both houses of the US Congress passed resolutions supporting the American action siding with the United Kingdom.
The US provided Britain with 200 Sidewinder missiles for use by the Harrier jets, eight Stinger surface-to-air missile systems, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and mortar bombs. On Ascension Island, the underground fuel tanks were empty when the British Task Force arrived in mid-April 1982 and the leading assault ship, HMS Fearless, did not have enough fuel to dock when it arrived off the island. The United States diverted a supertanker to replenish both the fuel tanks of ships at anchor there and the storage tanks on the island with approximately 2,000,000 US gallons (7,600,000 L; 1,700,000 imp gal) of fuel. The Pentagon further committed to providing additional support in the event that the war dragged on into the Southern Hemisphere's winter. In that scenario, the US committed tanker aircraft to support Royal Air Force missions in Europe, releasing RAF aircraft to support operations over the Falklands.
The United States allowed the United Kingdom to use American communication satellites for secure communications between submarines in the Southern Ocean and Naval HQ in Britain. The US also passed on satellite imagery (which it publicly denied) and weather forecast data to the British Fleet.
US President Ronald Reagan approved the Royal Navy's request to borrow a Sea Harrier-capable Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship (the US Navy had earmarked USS Guam (LPH-9) for this) in the event a British aircraft carrier was lost. The US Navy developed a plan to help the British man the ship with American military contractors, who would likely be retired sailors with knowledge of the ship's systems.
=== Other Organization of American States members ===
==== Brazil ====
At the end of May, Brazilian authorities allowed FAA Boeing 707s to refuel at Recife International Airport carrying arms shipments from Libya. When the British Embassy in Brasília became aware of this, the British Secret Intelligence Service devised a plan to sabotage the next flight on the ground, but diplomatic pressure on the Brazilian government to observe their legal duties as a neutral country resulted in no further flights being accepted. On 3 June, an RAF Vulcan on returning from a Black Buck raid on the Falklands, was forced to make an emergency landing at Rio de Janeiro International Airport after damage to its refuelling probe prevented it returning to Ascension Island. The Vulcan and her crew were interned and released seven days later, although an unused Shrike missile that the aircraft had been carrying was retained.
==== Chile ====
At the outbreak of the war, Chile was in negotiations with Argentina for control over the Beagle Channel and feared Argentina would use similar tactics to secure the channel. During this conflict, Argentina had already rejected two attempts at international mediation and tried to exert military pressure on Chile with an operation to occupy the disputed territory. Considering the situation, Chile refused to support the Argentine position during the war and gave support to the UK in the form of intelligence about the Argentine military and early warning intelligence on Argentine air movements.
Throughout the war, Argentina was afraid of a Chilean military intervention in Patagonia and kept some of its best mountain regiments away from the Falklands near the Chilean border as a precaution. The Chilean government also allowed the United Kingdom to requisition the refuelling vessel RFA Tidepool, which Chile had recently purchased and which had arrived at Arica in Chile on 4 April. The ship left port soon afterwards, bound for Ascension Island through the Panama Canal and stopping at Curaçao en route.
==== Cuba ====
Argentina was politically backed by a number of countries in Latin America (though, notably, not Chile). Several members of the Non-Aligned Movement also backed Argentina's position; notably, Cuba and Nicaragua led a diplomatic effort to rally non-aligned countries from Africa and Asia to Argentina's position. This initiative came as a surprise to Western observers, as Cuba had no diplomatic relations with Argentina's right-leaning military junta. British diplomats complained that Cuba had "cynically exploited" the crisis to pursue its normalisation of relations with Latin American countries; Argentina eventually resumed relations with Cuba in 1983; Brazil did so in 1986. According to Leycester Coltman, Cuban president Fidel Castro offered to send troops to reinforce the Argentine garrison in the Falklands and to deploy the Cuban submarine fleet to attack British warships en route to the South Atlantic.
==== Peru ====
Peru attempted to purchase 12 Exocet missiles from France, to be delivered to Argentina in a failed secret operation. Peru also openly sent "Mirages, pilots and missiles" to Argentina during the war. The nation also supplied the Argentine forces with 40 Strela-2M shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile launchers and three experienced operators to help train in the use of those weapons. Peru had earlier transferred ten Hercules transport planes to Argentina soon after the British Task Force had set sail in April 1982. Nick van der Bijl records that, after the Argentine defeat at Goose Green, Venezuela and Guatemala offered to send paratroopers to the Falklands.
=== Soviet Union ===
The Soviet Union described the Falklands as "a disputed territory", recognising Argentina's ambitions over the islands, and called for restraint on all sides. Soviet media frequently criticised the UK and US during the war. Significantly, the Soviet Union refrained from vetoing and thus made possible UN Security Council Resolution 502 demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Argentine troops from the Falklands. However, the Soviet Union mounted some clandestine logistics operations to assist the Argentines. Days after the invasion by the Argentine forces, the Soviets launched additional intelligence satellites into low Earth orbit covering the southern Atlantic Ocean. Conflicting reports exist on whether Soviet ocean surveillance data might have played a role in the sinking of HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry.
=== Spain ===
Spain's position was one of ambiguity, underpinning the basic dilemma of the Spanish foreign policy regarding the articulation of relationships with Latin America and European communities. On 2 April 1982, the Council of Ministers issued an official note defending principles of decolonisation and against the use of force. Spain abstained in the vote of UN Security Council Resolution 502, a position that Spanish UN representative Jaime de Piniés justified by pointing out that the resolution did not mention the underlying problem of decolonisation. The Spanish stance throughout the conflict contrasted with those of the countries in its immediate vicinity (EEC members and Portugal).
Spanish authorities also foiled a covert attack by the Argentine Naval Intelligence Service on a British warship at Gibraltar, code named Operation Algeciras. Three frogmen, recruited from a former anti-government insurgent group, were to plant mines on a ship's hull. The divers travelled to Spain through France, where French security services noted their military diving equipment and alerted their Spanish counterparts. They were covertly monitored as they moved from the Argentine embassy in Madrid to Algeciras, where they were arrested on 17 May by the Guardia Civil and deported.
=== Portugal ===
Portugal supported its long-standing ally Britain and the facilities of the Azores were offered to the Royal Navy.
=== Other countries ===
==== Ireland ====
Ireland's position altered during the war. As a rotating member of the United Nations Security Council, it supported Resolution 502. However, on 4 May, the Fianna Fáil government led by Charles Haughey decided to oppose EEC sanctions and called for a ceasefire. Haughey justified this as complying with Irish neutrality. Historians have suggested it was an opportunistic appeal to anti-British sentiment and reaction to Haughey's being sidelined during the 1981 republican hunger strike. The strain on British–Irish relations eased when Haughey's government fell in November 1982.
==== Israel ====
According to the book Operation Israel, advisers from Israel Aerospace Industries were already in Argentina and continued their work during the conflict. The book also claims that Israel sold weapons, drop tanks and aircraft to Argentina in a secret operation via Peru.
==== Sierra Leone ====
The Government of Sierra Leone allowed British task force ships to refuel at Freetown.
==== The Gambia ====
VC10 transport aircraft landed at Banjul in The Gambia while flying between the UK and Ascension Island.
==== Libya ====
Through Libya, under Muammar Gaddafi, Argentina received 20 launchers and 60 SA-7 missiles (which Argentina later described as "not effective"), as well as machine guns, mortars and mines. To retrieve the weapons, four trips were made using two Argentine Air Force Boeing 707s which refuelled in Recife with the consent of the Brazilian government.
== Casualties ==
In total, 907 people were killed during the 74 days of the conflict. Additionally, there were 1,188 Argentine and 777 British injured or wounded.
=== Argentina ===
A total of 649 Argentine servicemen were killed:
Ejército Argentino (Army) – 194 (16 officers, 35 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and 143 conscript privates)
Armada de la República Argentina (Navy) – 341 (including 321 in ARA General Belgrano and 4 naval aviators)
IMARA (Marines) – 34
Fuerza Aérea Argentina (Air Force) – 55 (including 31 pilots and 14 ground crew)
Gendarmería Nacional Argentina (Border Guard) – 7
Prefectura Naval Argentina (Coast Guard) – 2
=== United Kingdom ===
A total of 255 British servicemen were killed:
Royal Navy – 86 + 2 Hong Kong laundrymen (see below)
Royal Marines – 27 (2 officers, 14 NCOs and 11 marines)
Royal Fleet Auxiliary – 4 + 6 Hong Kong sailors
Merchant Navy – 6
British Army – 123 (7 officers, 40 NCOs and 76 privates)
Royal Air Force – 1 (1 officer)
Of the 86 Royal Navy personnel, 22 were lost in HMS Ardent, 19 + 1 lost in HMS Sheffield, 19 + 1 lost in HMS Coventry and 13 lost in HMS Glamorgan. Fourteen naval cooks were among the dead, the largest number from any one branch in the Royal Navy.
Thirty-three of the British Army's dead came from the Welsh Guards (32 of whom died on the RFA Sir Galahad in the Bluff Cove Air Attacks), 21 from the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, 18 from the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, 19 from the Special Air Service, 3 each from Royal Signals and Royal Army Medical Corps and 8 from each of the Scots Guards and Royal Engineers. The 1st battalion/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles lost one man.
=== Civilians ===
Two civilians, Doreen Bonner and Susan Whitley, were accidentally killed by British shelling during the night of 12 June. A third civilian, Mary Goodwin, was severely injured and died on 14 June. It was also reported that HMS Brilliant, on an anti-submarine patrol, detected and torpedoed three whales by accident.
=== Red Cross Box ===
Before British offensive operations began, the British and Argentine governments agreed to establish an area on the high seas where both sides could station hospital ships without fear of attack by the other side. This area, a circle 20 nautical miles in diameter, was referred to as the Red Cross Box (48°30′S 53°45′W) and located about 45 miles (72 km) north of Falkland Sound. Ultimately, the British stationed four ships (HMS Hydra, HMS Hecla and HMS Herald and the primary hospital ship SS Uganda) within the box, while the Argentines stationed three (ARA Almirante Irízar, ARA Bahía Paraíso and Puerto Deseado).
The hospital ships were non-warships converted to serve as hospital ships. The three British naval vessels were survey vessels and Uganda was a passenger liner. Almirante Irizar was an icebreaker, Bahia Paraiso was an Antarctic supply transport and Puerto Deseado was a survey ship. British and Argentine vessels operating within the Box were in radio contact and there was some transfer of patients between hospital ships. For example, the Uganda transferred patients to an Argentine hospital ship on four occasions.
Hydra worked with Hecla and Herald to take casualties from Uganda to Montevideo, Uruguay, where a fleet of Uruguayan ambulances met them. RAF VC10 aircraft then flew the casualties to the UK for transfer to the Princess Alexandra Hospital at RAF Wroughton, near Swindon.
Throughout the conflict, officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) conducted inspections to verify that all concerned were abiding by the rules of the Geneva Conventions. Argentine naval officers also inspected the British casualty ferries in the estuary of the River Plate.
== Aftermath ==
This brief war brought many consequences for all the parties involved, besides the considerable casualty rate and large materiel loss, especially of shipping and aircraft, relative to the deployed military strengths of the opposing sides.
In the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher's popularity increased. The success of the Falklands campaign was widely regarded as a factor in the turnaround in fortunes for the Conservative government, who had been trailing behind the SDP–Liberal Alliance in the opinion polls for months before the conflict began. Following the success in the Falklands, the Conservatives returned to the top of the opinion polls by a wide margin and won the following year's general election by a landslide. Subsequently, Defence Secretary Nott's proposed cuts to the Royal Navy were abandoned.
The islanders had full British citizenship restored in 1983; their quality of life improved through investments made by the UK after the war and by economic liberalisation that had been stalled for fear of angering Argentina. In 1985, a new constitution was enacted, promoting self-government which has continued to devolve power to the islanders. The result of the 2013 Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum was 99.8% of the electorate voting for the islands to remain a British territory, with a voter turnout of 92%.
In Argentina, defeat in the Falklands War meant that a possible war with Chile was avoided. Further, Argentina returned to a democratic government in the 1983 general election, the first free general election since 1973. It also had a major social impact, destroying the military's image as the "moral reserve of the nation" that they had maintained through most of the 20th century.
A detailed study of 21,432 British veterans of the war commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defence found that between 1982 and 2012, 95 had died from "intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent (suicides and open verdict deaths)", a proportion lower than would be expected within the general population over the same period. However, a study of British combat veterans conducted five years after the conflict found that half of the sample group had suffered some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while 22% were assessed to have the complete syndrome.
=== "Fortress Falklands" ===
In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, the British government embarked on a long-term policy of providing the islands with a viable military garrison, known informally as "Fortress Falklands". Initially, an aircraft carrier was kept in the area until the runway at Stanley Airport could be improved to take conventional RAF fighters. A permanent military complex with a runway designed to take long-haul airliners was constructed in the south of East Falkland, RAF Mount Pleasant, which opened in 1985; an associated deep-water port at Mare Harbour was also constructed. A small military outpost was established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, but it was closed in 2001.
=== Military analysis ===
Militarily, the Falklands conflict remains one of the largest air-naval combat operations between modern forces since the end of the Second World War. As such, it has been the subject of intense study by military analysts and historians. Significant takeaways include the vulnerability of surface ships to anti-ship missiles and submarines, the challenges of co-ordinating logistical support for long-distance projections of power, and reconfirmation of the importance of tactical air power, including helicopters.
In 1986 the BBC broadcast the Horizon programme In the Wake of HMS Sheffield, which discussed lessons learned from the conflict, and measures taken to implement them, such as incorporating greater stealth capabilities and providing better close-in weapon systems for the fleet. The principal British military responses to the Falklands War were the measures adopted in the December 1982 Defence White Paper.
=== Memorials ===
There are several memorials on the Falkland Islands themselves, the most notable of which is the 1982 Liberation Memorial, unveiled in 1984 on the second anniversary of the end of the war. It lists the names of the 255 British military personnel who died during the war and is located in front of the Secretariat Building in Stanley, overlooking Stanley Harbour. The Memorial was funded entirely by the Islanders and is inscribed with the words "In Memory of Those Who Liberated Us".
During the war, British dead were put into plastic body bags and buried in mass graves. After the war, the bodies were recovered; 14 were reburied at Blue Beach Military Cemetery and 64 were returned to the United Kingdom. Many of the Argentine dead are buried in the Argentine Military Cemetery two kilometers northeast of the small settlement of Darwin, approximately 82 kilometers west of Stanley. The Argentine government declined an offer by the UK to have the bodies repatriated to Argentina.
In addition to memorials on the islands, there is a memorial in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London to the British war dead. At the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, a Falklands War memorial was unveiled in May 2012 in a service attended by 600 veterans and their families; the names of the fallen were also inscribed on the Armed Forces Memorial at the arboretum, which commemorates all British servicemen killed in action since the end of the Second World War.
A memorial to the seamen of the Merchant Navy who died in the war stands at the Tower Hill Memorial in Trinity Square Gardens, London. A memorial to the Royal Marines, known as "the Yomper", was unveiled by Margaret Thatcher in 1992 outside the former Eastney Barracks near Portsmouth. The Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel at Pangbourne College was opened in March 2000 as a commemoration of the lives and sacrifice of all those who served and died in the South Atlantic in 1982.
In Argentina there are many memorials, museums and murals all over the country. The most important are a cenotaph at Plaza San Martín in Buenos Aires, and a memorial in Ushuaia, declared a National Monument.
=== Minefields ===
In 2011 there were 113 uncleared minefields plus unexploded ordnance (UXOs) covering an area of 13 km2 (3,200 acres) on the Falkland Islands. Of this area, 5.5 km2 (1,400 acres) on the Murrell Peninsula were classified as being "suspected minefields"—the area had been heavily pastured for 25 years without incident. It was estimated that these minefields had 20,000 anti-personnel mines and 5,000 anti-tank mines.
The UK reported six military personnel injured by mines or UXO in 1982, then two more in 1983. Most military accidents took place in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, while clearing minefields or trying to establish the extent of minefield perimeters, particularly where no detailed records existed. No civilian mine casualties have ever occurred on the islands, and no human casualties from mines or UXO have been reported since 1984.
In May 2008, the Falkland Islands Government asserted that the minefields, which represent 0.1% of the available farmland on the islands "present no long term social or economic difficulties for the Falklands", and that the impact of clearing the mines would cause more problems than containing them. However, the British Government, in accordance with its commitments under the Mine Ban Treaty had a commitment to clear the mines by the end of 2019.
In May 2012, it was announced that 3.7 km2 (1.4 sq mi) of Stanley Common, which lies between the Stanley – Mount Pleasant road and the shoreline, was made safe and had been opened to the public, opening up a 3 km (1.9 mi) stretch of coastline and a further two kilometres of shoreline along Mullet Creek.
In November 2020, after a final clearance campaign by contractors from Zimbabwe, it was declared that the Falkland Islands were now free of all landmines. A celebration of the event took place on the weekend of 14 November where the final landmine was detonated.
== Press and publicity ==
=== Argentina ===
Selected war correspondents were regularly flown to Port Stanley in military aircraft to report on the war. Back in Buenos Aires, newspapers and magazines reported on "the heroic actions of the largely conscript army and its successes".
Officers from the intelligence services were attached to the newspapers and 'leaked' information corroborating the official communiqués from the government. The glossy magazines Gente and Siete Días swelled to 60 pages with colour photographs of British warships in flames—many of them faked—and bogus eyewitness reports of the Argentine commandos' guerrilla war on South Georgia (6 May) and an already dead Pucará pilot's attack on HMS Hermes. Lt. Daniel Antonio Jukic had been killed at Goose Green during a British air strike on 1 May. Most of the faked photos actually came from the tabloid press. One of the best remembered headlines was "Estamos ganando" ("We're winning") from the magazine Gente, that later used variations of it.
The Argentine troops on the Falkland Islands could read Gaceta Argentina—a newspaper intended to boost morale among the servicemen. Some of its untruths could easily be unveiled by the soldiers who recovered corpses.
The Malvinas cause united the Argentines in a patriotic atmosphere that protected the junta from critics, and even opponents of the military government supported Galtieri; Ernesto Sabato said:
In Argentina, it is not a military dictatorship that is fighting. It is the whole people, her women, her children, her old people, regardless of their political persuasion. Opponents to the regime like myself are fighting for our dignity, fighting to extricate the last vestiges of colonialism. Don't be mistaken, Europe, it is not a dictatorship that is fighting for the Malvinas; it is the whole nation.
In the Argentine press, false reports that HMS Hermes was sunk and HMS Invincible had been damaged were circulated, after the weekly magazines Gente and La Semana had received information of naval action from an air force officer in the president's office. On 30 April 1982 the Argentine magazine Tal Cual showed Prime Minister Thatcher with an eyepatch and the text: Pirate, witch and assassin. Guilty!.
Three British reporters sent to Argentina to cover the war from the Argentine perspective were jailed until the end of the war. The Madres de Plaza de Mayo were even exposed to death threats from ordinary people.
=== United Kingdom ===
Seventeen newspaper reporters, two photographers, two radio reporters and three television reporters with five technicians sailed with the Task Force to the war. The Newspaper Publishers' Association selected them from among 160 applicants, excluding foreign media. The hasty selection resulted in the inclusion of two journalists among the war reporters who were interested only in Queen Elizabeth II's son Prince Andrew, who was serving in the conflict. The prince flew a helicopter on multiple missions, including Exocet missile decoy and casualty evacuation.
Merchant vessels had the civilian Inmarsat uplink, which enabled written telex and voice report transmissions via satellite. SS Canberra had a facsimile machine that was used to upload 202 pictures from the South Atlantic during the war. The Royal Navy leased bandwidth on the US Defense Satellite Communications System for worldwide communications. Television demands a thousand times the data rate of telephone, but the Ministry of Defence was unsuccessful in convincing the US to allocate more bandwidth.
TV producers suspected that the enquiry was half-hearted, since the Vietnam War television pictures of casualties and traumatised soldiers were recognised as having negative propaganda value. The technology only allowed uploading a single frame per 20 minutes—and only if the military satellites were allocated 100% to television transmissions. Videotapes were shipped to Ascension Island, where a broadband satellite uplink was available, resulting in TV coverage being delayed by three weeks.
The press was very dependent on the Royal Navy and was censored on site. Many reporters in the UK knew more about the war than those with the Task Force. Ministry of Defence press briefings in London were characterised by the restrained dictation-speed delivery of its spokesman, Ian McDonald.
The Royal Navy expected the British press to conduct a Second World War-style positive news campaign but the majority of the British media, especially the BBC, reported the war in a neutral fashion. These reporters referred to "the British troops" and "the Argentinian troops" instead of "our lads" and the "Argies". The two main tabloid papers presented opposing viewpoints: The Daily Mirror was decidedly anti-war, whilst The Sun became well known for headlines such as "Stick It Up Your Junta!", which, along with the reporting in other tabloids, led to accusations by The Guardian of xenophobia and jingoism. The Sun was criticised for its "Gotcha" headline following the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano.
The British Ministry of Defence operated a psychological warfare operation under the codename "Moonshine", which took the form of a spurious radio station purporting to be from a neutral South American country, but was actually in London, broadcasting to the Falklands and Argentina via a transmitter on Ascension which had been requisitioned from the BBC. Under the name of Radio Atlántico del Sur ("Radio South Atlantic"), the station was operated by a small team of civilians and Spanish-speaking military officers. The first three-hour broadcast was on 19 May. A total of 47 were made by 15 June when the operation was cancelled. There is some evidence that the Argentines attempted to jam the broadcasts and that some civilian radio receivers were confiscated from soldiers, but the results overall were difficult to assess.
== Cultural impact ==
There were wide-ranging influences on popular culture in both the UK and Argentina, from the immediate postwar period to the present. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges described the war as "a fight between two bald men over a comb." The words yomp and Exocet entered the British vernacular as a result of the war. The Falklands War also provided material for theatre, film and TV drama and influenced the output of musicians. In Argentina, the military government banned the broadcast of English-language music, giving way to the rise of local rock musicians, like the famous "Trova Rosarina" movement as well as solo musicians such as Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Fito Paez and Gustavo Santaolalla.
The cultural impact was also reflected in film productions depicting the Falklands War. Among them, two works have had a particularly enduring influence. In 1984, following the return of democracy in Argentina, The Children of the War (Los chicos de la guerra), directed by Bebe Kamin, emerged as the first film to confront the conflict directly. The film follows three young men from different social backgrounds who are sent to fight and explores how the profoundly traumatic experience of war transforms them. At the turn of the century, another acclaimed film appeared: Blessed by Fire (Iluminados por el fuego, 2005), directed by Tristán Bauer. The story centers on Edgardo Esteban, a former soldier and now a 40-year-old journalist, who is thrust back into memories of the war after learning of the suicide of a former comrade. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ruiz | Mark Ruiz | Mark Ruiz (born April 9, 1979 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico), is an Olympic diver from Puerto Rico. Ruiz represented the United States in the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2004 Olympic Games.
== Childhood ==
Ruiz took up diving at the age of 9. Upon a coach's suggestion, he moved to the U.S. at 12 to take advantage of the better training system. During the spring nationals in 1999, he swept all three events (10-meter platform, 3-meter springboard and the non-Olympic event of 1-meter springboard), becoming the first diver since Greg Louganis in 1988 to accomplish this feat.
Ruiz is a graduate of Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida. He was a member of the swimming and diving team and was the individual state champion for diving all four years he competed.
== Competition ==
Mark's first attempt at the Olympics happened at the 1996 Trials. Ruiz also competes in synchronized diving (springboard and platform), which will have medal events for the first time in Sydney. Ruiz, a four-time national champion in the platform, has already qualified in the platform and 3-meter springboard. He and partner Rio Ramirez finished fourth in the 3-meter springboard at the 2000 World Cup. Mark retired (temporarily) after the 2004 Olympics in Greece.
== Career ==
After his temporary retirement from competition, Ruiz taught diving clinics at the YMCA Aquatic Center. In 2010 Mark's former team, Team Orlando Diving (TOD) affiliated with the YMCA of Central Florida and became YCF Diving. Mark Ruiz was named head coach and continues in this position today.
== Achievements ==
Source:
1997 World Cup, platform, 5th
1998 Goodwill Games, 3-meter springboard, 10th; platform, 6th
1998 Summer National Championships, platform, 1-meter springboard, 1st; 3-meter springboard, 2nd
1998 Summer National Championships, synchronized, platform, 1st
1999 Spring National Championships, platform, 3- and 1-meter springboard, 1st
1999 Spring National Championships, synchronized, platform, 1st; 3-meter springboard, 3rd
1999 World Cup, platform, 3rd
1999 Pan American Games, 3-meter springboard, 1st, platform, 5th
1999 Summer National Championships, platform, 3- and 1-meter springboard, 1st
1999 Summer National Championships, synchronized, 3-meter springboard, 1st, platform, 2nd
2000 World Cup, platform, 5th; 3-meter springboard, 7th
2000 National Indoor Championships, synchronized, platform, 1st
2000 National Indoor Championships, platform, 3-meter springboard, 1st
2000 Olympic Team Trials, platform, 3-meter springboard, 1st
2000 Olympic Team
2004 Olympic Team |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Enix | Square Enix | Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing game franchises, such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts, among numerous others. Outside of video game publishing and development, it is also in the business of merchandise, arcade facilities, and manga publication under its Gangan Comics brand.
The original Square Enix Co., Ltd. was formed in April 2003 from a merger between Square and Enix, with the latter as the surviving company. Each share of Square's common stock was exchanged for 0.85 shares of Enix's common stock. At the time, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square employees. As part of the merger, former Square president Yoichi Wada was appointed the president of the new corporation, while former Enix president Keiji Honda was named vice president. Yasuhiro Fukushima, the largest shareholder of the combined corporation and founder of Enix, became chairman. In October 2008, Square Enix conducted a company split between its corporate business and video game operations, reorganizing itself as the holding company Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd., while its internally domestic video game operations were formed under the subsidiary Square Enix Co., Ltd. The group operates American, Chinese and European branches, based in Los Angeles, Beijing, Paris, Hamburg, and London respectively.
Several of Square Enix's franchises have sold over 10 million copies worldwide after 2020, with Final Fantasy selling 173 million, Dragon Quest selling 85 million, and Kingdom Hearts shipping 36 million. In 2005, Square Enix acquired arcade corporation Taito. In 2009, Square Enix acquired Eidos plc, the parent company of British game publisher Eidos Interactive, which was then absorbed into its European branch. Square Enix is headquartered at the Shinjuku Eastside Square Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, along with a second office at Osaka. It has over 5,000 employees worldwide through its base operations and subsidiaries.
== Corporate history ==
=== Origins and pre-merger (1975–2003) ===
==== Enix (1975–2003) ====
Enix was founded on September 22, 1975, as Eidansha Boshu Service Center by Japanese architect-turned-entrepreneur Yasuhiro Fukushima. Enix focused on publishing games, often by companies who exclusively partnered with the company. In the 1980s, in a partnership with developers Chunsoft, the company began publishing the Dragon Quest series of console games.
Key members of the developer's staff consisted of director Koichi Nakamura, writer Yuji Horii, artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama, among others. The first game, Dragon Warrior, in the Famicom-based RPG series, was released in 1986 and would eventually sell 1.5 million copies in Japan, establishing Dragon Quest as the company's most profitable franchise. Despite the announcement that Enix's long-time competitor Square would develop exclusively for PlayStation, Enix announced in January 1997 that it would release games for both Nintendo and Sony consoles. This caused a significant rise in stock for both Enix and Sony. By November 1999, Enix was listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, indicating it as a "large company".
==== Square (1983–2003) ====
Square was started in October 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto as a computer game software division of Den-Yu-Sha, a power line construction company owned by his father. While at the time, game development was usually conducted by only one programmer, Miyamoto believed that it would be more efficient to have graphic designers, programmers and professional story writers working together.
In September 1986, the division was spun off into an independent company led by Miyamoto, officially named Square Co., Ltd. After releasing several unsuccessful games for the Famicom, Square relocated to Ueno, Tokyo in 1987 and developed Final Fantasy, a role-playing video game inspired by Enix's success in the genre with the 1986 Dragon Quest. Final Fantasy was a success with over 400,000 copies sold, and it became Square's leading franchise, spawning dozens of games in a series that continues to the present.
Buoyed by the success of their Final Fantasy franchise, Square developed notable games and franchises such as Chrono, Mana, Kingdom Hearts (in collaboration with The Walt Disney Company), and Super Mario RPG (in collaboration with Nintendo). By late 1994 they had developed a reputation as a producer of high-quality role-playing video games. Square was one of the many companies that had planned to develop and publish their games for the Nintendo 64, but with the cheaper costs associated with developing games on CD-based consoles such as the Sega Saturn and the PlayStation, Square decided to develop titles for the latter system. Final Fantasy VII was one of these games, and it sold 9.8 million copies, making it the second-best-selling game for the PlayStation.
=== Merger (2003) ===
A merger between Square and Enix had been considered since at least 2000; the financial failure in 2001 of Square's first film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, made Enix reluctant to proceed while Square suffered record losses. With the company facing its second year of financial losses, Square approached Sony for a capital injection, and on October 8, 2001, Sony purchased an 18.6% stake in Square. Following the success of both Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, the company's finances stabilized, and it recorded the highest operating margin in its history in the fiscal year 2002. It was announced on November 25, 2002, that Square and Enix's previous plans to merge were to officially proceed, intending to decrease development costs and to compete with foreign developers. As described by Square's president and CEO Yoichi Wada: "Square has also fully recovered, meaning this merger is occurring at a time when both companies are at their height."
Some shareholders expressed concerns about the merger, notably Miyamoto (the founder and largest shareholder of Square), who would find himself holding a significantly smaller percentage of the combined companies. Other criticism came from Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities, who expressed doubts about the benefits of such a merger: "Enix outsources game development and has few in-house creators, while Square does everything by itself. The combination of the two provides no negative factors but would bring little in the way of operational synergies." Miyamoto's concerns were eventually resolved by altering the exchange ratio of the merger so that each Square share would be exchanged for 0.85 Enix shares rather than 0.81 shares, and the merger was greenlit. The merger was set for April 1, 2003, on which date the newly merged entity Square Enix came into being. At the time of the merger, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square employees. As part of the merger, former Square president Yoichi Wada was appointed the president of the new corporation, while former Enix president Keiji Honda became its vice president. The founder of Enix and the largest shareholder of the newly combined corporation, Yasuhiro Fukushima, was made its honorary chairman.
As a result of the merger, Enix was the surviving company and Square Co., Ltd. was dissolved. In July of that year, the Square Enix headquarters were moved to Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, to help combine the two companies.
=== Post-merger and acquisitions (2003–2013) ===
To strengthen its wireless market, Square Enix acquired mobile application developer UIEvolution in March 2004, which was sold in December 2007, and the company instead founded its own Square Enix MobileStudio in January 2008 to focus on mobile products. In January 2005, Square Enix founded Square Enix China, expanding their interests in the People's Republic of China.
In September 2005, Square Enix bought the gaming developer and publisher Taito, renowned for their arcade hits such as Space Invaders and the Bubble Bobble series; Taito's home and portable console games divisions were merged into Square Enix itself by March 2010. In August 2008, Square Enix made plans for a similar expansion by way of a friendly takeover of video game developer Tecmo by purchasing shares at a 30 percent premium, but Tecmo rejected the proposed takeover. Tecmo would later merge with Koei in April 2009 to form Koei Tecmo. In April 2007, Square Enix Ltd. CEO John Yamamoto also became CEO of Square Enix, Inc. In 2008–2009, Square Enix was reportedly working with Grin on a Final Fantasy spin-off codenamed Fortress. The project was allegedly canceled by Square Enix after introducing seemingly impossible milestones and without payments made, resulting in Grin declaring bankruptcy and its co-founders blaming Square Enix for being "betrayed". On January 8, 2009, Square Enix signed an agreement with Ubisoft where the former would work to assist the latter in distributing their video games in Japan.
In February 2009, Square Enix announced a takeover deal for Eidos (formerly SCi Entertainment), the holding company for Eidos Interactive. The UK-based publisher's assets include Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain franchises, along with subsidiary development studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and IO Interactive that developed the games. The acquisition of Eidos was completed in April 2009, and in November it was merged with Square Enix's European publishing organization, business unit Square Enix Europe. Eidos' US operations were merged with Square Enix Incorporated. In April 2010, a new Japanese label for Western games bearing CERO restrictions called Square Enix Extreme Edges was announced. In July 2010, Mike Fischer was appointed CEO of Square Enix, Inc. Square Enix founded the mobile development studio Hippos Lab in March 2011 and Square Enix Montréal in 2012. In May 2011, VG24/7 reported Stainless Games had purchased the rights to Carmageddon from Square Enix. In July 2011, it was reported that Square Enix closed their Los Angeles Studio. In January 2012, Square Enix North American office could pursue smaller niche, mobile and social media games due to its existing revenue streams. In October 2012, Square Enix was perceived as a "force in mobile" games by Kotaku. The price of Final Fantasy Dimensions and Demons' Score, $30 and $44 respectively, was criticized.
=== Restructuring (2013) ===
On March 26, 2013, citing sluggish sales of major Western games, Square Enix announced major restructuring, expected loss of ¥10 billion and resignation of President Yoichi Wada, whom Yosuke Matsuda replaced. Phil Rogers was elected as a new Director, among others. With the restructuring, Square Enix of America CEO Mike Fischer left the company in May, with former Square Enix Europe CEO Phil Rogers becoming CEO of Americas and Europe. Further executive changes at Square Enix Western studios were mentioned in a statement. Square Enix Europe was hit with layoffs and Life President Ian Livingstone departed from the company in September 2013.
It said with the fiscal year report in March 2013, sales of Tomb Raider (2013) and Hitman: Absolution were weak, despite critical acclaim. The North American sales force was said to be ineffective and price pressure was intense. Matsuda noted the long development time of their important games and said they need to shift to a business model with frequent customer interactions, noting Kickstarter as an example.
=== Post-restructuring and RPG development (2013–2021) ===
In March 2013, Square Enix India opened in Mumbai; however the office was closed in April 2014 and reopened five years later. As well as Square Enix Latin America in Mexico, which was closed in 2015. A mobile studio called Smileworks was founded in Indonesia in June 2013; however it was closed in January 2015. In 2014, Square Enix Collective launched, an indie developer service provider headed by Phil Elliot. Also in 2014, Square Enix signed a strategic alliance and cooperation with Japanese and French video game companies, Bandai Namco Entertainment and Ubisoft; it has served as the Japanese publisher of video games and crossover productions since 2009.
In March 2014, following the success of Bravely Default, Square Enix said it will "go back to their roots" and focus on creating content that will appeal to their core audience. Karl Stewart, vice president of strategic marketing at Square Enix for North America and Europe, left the company that month. In 2015, Square created a new studio known as Tokyo RPG Factory to develop what was then dubbed Project Setsuna. Around 2015, Square Enix's Western divisions began "officially working across LA and London".
In January 2017, Norwegian studio Artplant purchased former Eidos franchise Project I.G.I. On February 21, 2017, the formation of a new studio Studio Istolia was announced. The studio, headed by Hideo Baba, would be working on the new RPG Project Prelude Rune. In November 2017, IO Interactive conducted a management buyout from Square Enix and the Hitman IP was transferred to the studio. In September 2018, COO Mike Sherlock died, with Square Enix's executive team assuming his immediate responsibilities. In 2018, Square Enix branded their third party publishing division Square Enix External Studios, which is headed by Jon Brooke and Lee Singleton. John Heinecke was appointed as CMO for Americas and Europe in October 2018.
Baba departed the studio in early 2019, and shortly after this, Studio Istolia was closed, and Project Prelude Rune cancelled following an assessment of the project, with its staff being reassigned to different projects within the company. In 2019, Square Enix opened an Indian office again, now in Bangalore, which expanded into publishing mobile games for the Indian market in 2021. In June 2020, Square Enix donated $2.4 million to charities around their Western studios and offices for the Black Lives Matter cause and COVID-19, which were partially raised from sales of its discounted Square Enix Eidos Anthology bundle. In March 2021, Forever Entertainment, a Polish studio, was reported to be working to bring several of Square Enix's properties to modern systems. A new mobile studio called Square Enix London Mobile, working on Tomb Raider Reloaded and an unannounced title based on Avatar: The Last Airbender with Navigator Games, was announced on October 20, 2021.
=== Divestment of studios and business changes (2022–present) ===
In March 2022, Square Enix announced that they would donate $500,000 to the United Nations fund for Ukrainian refugees in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On May 1, 2022, Square Enix announced that it would sell several assets of subsidiary Square Enix Limited to Swedish games holding company Embracer Group for $300 million. This included studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montreal, IPs Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, Thief, and Tomb Raider and rights to "over 50 games". Square Enix stated that the sale will further help it in investment into blockchain and other technologies, and to "assist the company in adapting to the changes underway in the global business environment by establishing a more efficient allocation of resources". Square Enix also stated that it would retain the Life Is Strange, Outriders, and Just Cause franchises. However, during the Japanese publisher's full-year financial results briefing on May 13, president Yosuke Matsuda clarified the past statement and said the money from the sale will be used to strengthen the company's core games business. On July 25, 2022, Square Enix launched the English version of Manga Up!. The acquisition was closed by August 26, 2022, with the assets being held under CDE Entertainment which is headed from London by Phil Rogers, former CEO of Square Enix Americas and Europe.
In the company's financial statement for the following quarter, released in September 2022, Matsuda said they were moving away from outright owning studios due to rising costs of development, but were looking at means to invest in studios such as joint ventures or investment opportunities. In 2022, Square Enix invested in seven business strategic cooperations in the blockchain and cloud services such as Zebedee (United States), Blocklords (Estonia), Cross The Ages (France), Blacknut (France), Animoca Brands-owned The Sandbox (Australia and Hong Kong), and Ubitus (Japan).
On February 28, 2023, Square Enix Holdings announced that on May 1, Luminous Productions would reorganize and merge with Square Enix internally, citing the merging of the two would "enhance the group's abilities to develop HD games" for the 20th anniversary. On March 3, Square Enix issued a statement announcing a proposed change to the position of its president and representative director that, if implemented, would result in Yosuke Matsuda stepping down and being succeeded by Takashi Kiryu, who is presently the company's director. The change will become effective upon approval at the company's 43rd annual shareholders' meeting, which is planned for June 2023, and the board meeting which will follow ahead on the 20th anniversary of the merger. Kiryu succeeded on May 18 and was seen as part of the Final Fantasy XVI launch event as one of his first appearances in public.
In March 2024, Square Enix announced it would be more selective with the games it develops, resulting in numerous unannounced titles being cancelled. The company lost ¥22.1 billion (approximately $140 million) due to "content abandonment", they are now making the third installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake their full focus after the release of Rebirth.
== Corporate structure ==
On October 1, 2008, Square Enix transformed into a holding company and was renamed Square Enix Holdings. At the same time, the development and publishing businesses were transferred to a spin-off company named Square Enix, sharing the same corporate leadership and offices with the holding company. The primary offices for Square Enix and Square Enix Holdings are in the Shinjuku Eastside Square Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Currently, focusing in different industries, the company is divided as the following: Five Creative Business Units for game development and production in Square Enix Co., Ltd; a dedicated publishing business unit for manga and books publishing; a digital storefront business division for their e-Store and merchandise production; their media and arts business unit for music production, concert and live performance coordination, and visual contents production (live action, animation, and CG for TV, movies, and games); and a blockchain business division.
=== Development organization ===
After the merger in 2003, Square Enix's development department was organized into eight Square and two Enix Product Development Divisions (開発事業部, kaihatsu jigyōbu), each focused on different groupings of games. The divisions were spread around different offices; for example, Product Development Division 5 had offices both in Osaka and Tokyo.
According to Yoichi Wada, the development department was reorganized away from the Product Development Division System by March 2007 into a project-based system. Until 2013, the teams in charge of the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series were still collectively referred to as the 1st Production Department (第1制作部, dai-ichi seisakubu). The 1st Production Department was formed from the fall 2010 combination of Square Enix's Tokyo and Osaka development studios, with Shinji Hashimoto as its corporate executive.
In December 2013, Square Enix's development was restructured into 12 Business Divisions. In 2017, Business Division 9 was merged into Business Division 8, while Business Divisions 11 and 12 merged to become the new Business Division 9, while a new Business Division 11 was created with some staff from Business Division 6.
In 2019, Square Enix announced that all of their Business Divisions would be consolidated into four Creative Business Units. Creative Business Unit 1 was led by Yoshinori Kitase, Creative Business Unit 2 was led by Yu Miyake, Creative Business Unit 3 was led by Naoki Yoshida and Creative Business Unit 4 was led by Kei Hirono.
In April 2024, Square Enix restructured its development operations moving away from the Creative Business Unit structure into a new Creative Studio structure.
Creative Studio 1 is led by executive officer Yoshinori Kitase and studio head Naoki Hamaguchi. They are responsible for various projects including the Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts series.
Creative Studio 2 is led by executive officer and studio head Yoshinori Kitase and deputy studio heads Motomu Toriyama and Shinpei Yashima. The only currently confirmed responsibility for this studio is the SaGa series.
Creative Studio 3 is led by executive officer and studio head Naoki Yoshida. They are responsible for various titles including Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI.
Creative Studio 4 is led by executive officer Yosuke Saito.
Creative Studio 5 is led by executive officer and studio head Tomoya Asano and deputy studio head and senior manager Masashi Takahashi. They are responsible for HD-2D games, the Bravely series, Dragon Quest titles and the Paranormasight series.
=== Business model ===
The business model of post-merger Square Enix is centered on the idea of "polymorphic content", which consists of developing franchises on multiple potential media rather than being restricted by a single gaming platform. An early example of this strategy is Enix's Fullmetal Alchemist manga series, which has been adapted into two anime television series, five movies (two animated, three live-action), and several novels and video games. Other polymorphic projects include the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Code Age, World of Mana, Ivalice Alliance, and Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy subseries. According to Yoichi Wada, "It's very difficult to hit the jackpot, as it were. Once we've hit it, we have to get all the juice possible out of it". Similar to Sony's Greatest Hits program, Square Enix also re-releases their best-selling games at a reduced price under a label designated "Ultimate Hits".
The standard game design model Square Enix employs is to establish the plot, characters, and art of the game first. Battle systems, field maps, and cutscenes are created next. According to Taku Murata, this process became the company's model for development after the success of Square's Final Fantasy VII in 1997. The team size for Final Fantasy XIII peaked at 180 artists, 30 programmers, and 36 game designers, but analysis and restructuring were done to outsource large-scale development in the future.
== Business ==
=== Video games and franchises ===
Square Enix's primary concentration is on video gaming, and it is primarily known for its role-playing video game franchises. Of its properties, the Final Fantasy franchise, begun in 1987, is the best-selling, with worldwide sales exceeding 173 million units as of March 2022. The Dragon Quest franchise, whose first title was introduced in 1986, is also a best-seller; it is considered one of the most popular game series in Japan and has sold over 85 million units globally. More recently, the Kingdom Hearts series (developed in collaboration with Disney beginning in 2002) has become popular, with 36 million units shipped as of March 2022. Other popular series developed by Square Enix include the SaGa series with nearly 10 million copies sold since 1989, the Mana series with over 6 million sales since 1991, and the Chrono series with over 5 million sold since 1995. In addition to their sales numbers, many Square Enix games have been highly reviewed; 27 Square Enix games were included in Famitsu magazine's 2006 "Top 100 Games Ever", with 7 in the top 10 and Final Fantasy X claiming the number 1 position. The company also won IGN's award for Best Developer of 2006 for the PlayStation 2.
Square and Enix initially targeted Nintendo home consoles with their games, but Square Enix currently develops games for a wide variety of systems. In the seventh generation of video game consoles, Square Enix released new installments from its major series across all three major systems, including Final Fantasy XIII on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and Dragon Quest X on the Wii. Square Enix has also developed titles for handheld game consoles, including the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, and PlayStation Vita. Also, they have published games for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and various models of mobile phones and modern smartphones. Square Enix mobile phone games became available in 2004 on the Vodafone network in some European countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy.
Before its launch, Michihiro Sasaki, senior vice president of Square Enix, spoke about the PlayStation 3, saying, "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them, but we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much." Square Enix continued to reiterate their devotion to multi-platform publishing in 2007, promising more support for the North American and European gaming markets where console pluralism is generally more prevalent than in Japan. Their interest in multi-platform development was made evident in 2008 when the previously PlayStation 3-exclusive game Final Fantasy XIII was announced for release on the Xbox 360.
In 2008, Square Enix released their first game for the iPod, Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. Square Enix made a new brand for younger children gaming that same year, known as Pure Dreams. Pure Dreams' first two games, Snoopy DS: Let's Go Meet Snoopy and His Friends! and Pingu's Wonderful Carnival, were released that year. After acquiring Eidos in 2009, Square Enix combined it with its European publishing wing to create Square Enix Europe, which continues to publish Eidos franchises such as Tomb Raider (88 million sales), Deus Ex (4 million), Thief and Legacy of Kain (3.5 million). Square Enix were served as the Japanese publisher for Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft from 2009 to 2024 (followed by the Microsoft acquisition and Ubisoft's partnership with Tencent and Sega Sammy Holdings). In May 2022, Square Enix sold several assets of Square Enix Europe $300 million to Embracer Group, including former Eidos Interactive franchises such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 others.
Square Enix owned franchises and games include:
former Square franchises, such as Mana;
former Enix franchises, such as Star Ocean;
Square Enix created franchises, such as Drakengard;
Quest franchises, such as Ogre;
Taito franchises, such as Space Invaders;
Retained former Crystal Dynamics franchise, such as Gex;
Retained former Eidos Interactive franchise, such as Just Cause;
Square Enix America created games, such as Quantum Conundrum;
Square Enix Europe created franchises, such as Life Is Strange.
=== Game technology ===
In 2004, Square Enix began to work on a "common 3D format" that would allow the entire company to develop titles without being restricted to a specific platform: this led to the creation of a game engine named Crystal Tools, which is compatible with the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, Windows-based PCs, and to some extent the Wii. It was first shown off at a tech demo shown off at E3 2005 and was later used for Final Fantasy XIII based on the demo's reception. Crystal Tools was also used for Final Fantasy Versus XIII before its re-branding as Final Fantasy XV and its shift onto next-gen platforms. Refinement of the engine continued through the development of Final Fantasy XIII-2, and it underwent a major overhaul for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Since that release, no new titles have been announced using Crystal Tools, and it is believed that the development of the engine has halted permanently.
Luminous Engine was originally intended for eighth-generation consoles and unveiled at E3 2012 through a tech demo titled Agni's Philosophy. The first major console title to be developed with Luminous Engine was Final Fantasy XV; the engine's development was done in tandem with the game, and the game's development helped the programming team optimize the engine.
In addition, Square Enix uses commercial engines, including Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 (such as The Last Remnant), Unreal Engine 4 (such as Dragon Quest XI, Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VII Remake) and Unity (such as I Am Setsuna, Lost Sphear, SaGa: Scarlet Grace).
=== Online gaming ===
Before the merger, Enix published its first online game Cross Gate in Japan, mainland China, and Taiwan in 2001, and Square released Final Fantasy XI in Japan in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and later the personal computer. With the huge success of Final Fantasy XI, the game was ported to the Xbox 360 two years later and was the first MMORPG on the console. All versions of the game used PlayOnline, a cross-platform internet gaming platform and internet service developed by Square Enix. The platform was used as the online service for many games Square Enix developed and published throughout the decade. Due to the success of their MMORPG, Square Enix began a new project called Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion. GamePot, a Japanese game portal, received the license to publish Fantasy Earth in Japan, and it was released in Japan as "Fantasy Earth ZERO". In 2006, however, Square Enix dropped the Fantasy Earth Zero project and sold it to GamePot. Square Enix released Concerto Gate, the sequel to Cross Gate, in 2007.
A next-gen MMORPG code named Rapture was developed by the Final Fantasy XI team using the company's Crystal Tools engine. It was unveiled at E3 2009 as Final Fantasy XIV for PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows and would be released on September 30, 2010. Dragon Quest X was announced in September 2011 as an MMORPG being developed for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U consoles, which released on August 2, 2012, and March 30, 2013, respectively. Like XIV, it used Crystal Tools.
Square Enix also made browser games and Facebook games, like Legend World, Chocobo's Crystal Tower and Knights of the Crystals, and online games for Yahoo! Japan, such as Monster x Dragon, Sengoku Ixa, Bravely Default: Praying Brage, Star Galaxy, and Crystal Conquest.
=== Cloud gaming ===
In 2013, Dragon Quest X was brought to iOS and Android in Japan using NTT DoCoMo as the release platform and Ubitus for the streaming technology. In 2014, it was also brought to 3DS in Japan using Ubitus.
On May 8, 2012, Square Enix announced a collaboration with Bigpoint Games to create a free-to-play Cloud gaming platform that "throws players into 'limitless game worlds' directly through their web browser". The service was launched under the name CoreOnline in August 2012. Stating "limited commercial take-up", the service was cancelled on November 29, 2013.
In September 2014, a cloud gaming company called Shinra Technologies (previously Project Flare) was created; however, it was closed in January 2016. On October 9, 2014, Square Enix launched another online game service in Japan called Dive In, which allowed players to stream console games to their iOS or Android devices. The service was monetized by the amount of time the players spent playing, with each game offered for free for thirty minutes. The service was cancelled on September 13, 2015. Some Square Enix games are available in Japan on the G-cluster streaming service.
=== Arcade facilities ===
With the merger of Taito businesses into Square Enix, the company gained possession of Taito's arcade infrastructure and facilities and entered the arcade market in 2005. In 2010 Taito revealed NESiCAxLive, a cloud-based system of storing games and changing them through the internet instead of acquiring physical copies. This system was added to its many arcade gaming locations. The company continues to cater to the arcade audience in Japan with arcade-only titles, with game producers in 2015 stating that Square Enix has a loyal fan base that values the arcade gaming experience. In November 2019, Square Enix announced a "Ninja Tower Tokyo" theme park by its newly established Live Interactive Works division.
=== Film ===
The company has made three forays into the film industry. The first, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), was produced by Square subsidiary Square Pictures before the Enix merger; Square Pictures is now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix. Its box-office failure caused Enix to delay the merger, which was already under consideration before the creation of the film until Square became profitable once again. In 2005, Square Enix released Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, a CGI-animation film based on the PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII, set two years after the events of the game. A Deus Ex film was in pre-production in 2012 and, as of 2014, was undergoing rewrites. In 2016 Square Enix revealed a film Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV based in the world of Final Fantasy XV and Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, a new web series released on YouTube and Crunchyroll.
=== Publishing ===
The company has a manga publishing division in Japan (originally from Enix) called Gangan Comics, which publishes content for the Japanese market only. In 2010, however, Square Enix launched a digital manga store for North American audiences via its Members services, which contains several notable series published in Gangan anthologies. Titles published by Gangan Comics include Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, and many others. Other titles include manga adaptations of various Square Enix games, like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, and Star Ocean. Some of these titles have also been adapted into anime series. Fullmetal Alchemist is the most successful title of Square Enix's manga branch, with more than 64 million volumes sold worldwide. It is licensed in North America by Viz Media, while its two anime adaptations were licensed by Funimation (now known as Crunchyroll) in North America. Starting in Q4 2019, Square Enix began publishing some of its manga series in English.
=== Merchandise ===
Square Enix has created merchandise for virtually all of their video game franchises. Starting in 2000, Square Enix's former online gaming portal PlayOnline sold merchandise from game franchises including Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, Chocobo Racing, Front Mission, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy. Mascots from game franchises are a popular focus for merchandise, such as the Chocobo from Final Fantasy, which has been seen as a rubber duck, a plush baby Chocobo, and on coffee mugs. Square Enix also designed a Chocobo character costume for the release of Chocobo Tales. The Slime character from Dragon Quest has also been frequently used in Square Enix merchandise, especially in Japan. On the Japanese language Square Enix shopping website, there is also a Slime-focused section called "Smile Slime". Slime merchandise includes plush toys, game controllers, figurines, and several board games, including one titled Dragon Quest Slime Racing. In Japan, pork-filled steam buns shaped like slimes have been sold in 2010. For Dragon Quest's 25th anniversary, special items were sold, including business cards, tote bags, and crystal figurines. Rabites from the Mana series have appeared in several pieces of Square Enix merchandise, including plush dolls, cushions, lighters, mousepads, straps, telephone cards, and T-shirts. Square Enix has also made merchandise for third party series, including figures Mass Effect and Halo in 2012. Beginning in 2012, it operates shops called "Square Enix Cafe" in Tokyo, Osaka and Shanghai, which display and sell merchandise, as well as serve café food.
== Subsidiaries ==
=== Former subsidiaries === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture#1970s | Academy Award for Best Picture#1970s | The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted on May 16, 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot. The Best Picture category is traditionally the final award of the night and is widely considered the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.
The Grand Staircase columns at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the Academy Awards ceremonies have been held since 2002, showcase every film that has won the Best Picture title since the award's inception. There have been 621 films nominated for Best Picture and 98 winners.
== History ==
=== Category name changes ===
At the 1st Academy Awards ceremony held in 1929 (for films made in 1927 and 1928), there were two categories of awards that were each considered the top award of the night: "Outstanding Picture" and "Unique and Artistic Picture", the former being won by the war epic Wings, and the latter by the art film Sunrise. Each award was intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior filmmaking. In particular, The Jazz Singer was disqualified from both awards, since its use of synchronized sound made the film a sui generis item that would have unfairly competed against either category, and the Academy granted the film an honorary award instead.
The following year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, deciding retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded, and allowed synchronized sound films to compete for the award. Although the award kept the title Outstanding Picture for the next ceremony, the name underwent several changes over the years, as seen below. Since 1962, the award has been simply called Best Picture.
1927/28–1928/29: Academy Award for Outstanding Picture
1929/30–1940: Academy Award for Outstanding Production
1941–1943: Academy Award for Outstanding Motion Picture
1944–1961: Academy Award for Best Motion Picture
1962–present: Academy Award for Best Picture
=== Recipients ===
Until 1950, this award was presented to a representative of the production company. That year the protocol was changed so that the award was presented to all credited producers. This rule was modified in 1999 to apply a maximum limit of three producers receiving the award, after the five producers of Shakespeare in Love had received the award.
As of 2020, the "Special Rules for the Best Picture of the Year Award" limit recipients to those who meet two main requirements:
Those with screen credit of "producer" or "produced by", explicitly excluding those with the screen credit "executive producer, co-producer, associate producer, line producer, or produced in association with"
those three or fewer producers who have performed the major portion of the producing functions
The rules allow a bona fide team of not more than two people to be considered a single "producer" if the two individuals have had an established producing partnership as determined by the Producers Guild of America Producing Partnership Panel. Final determination of the qualifying producer nominees for each nominated picture will be made by the Producers Branch Executive Committee, including the right to name any additional qualified producer as a nominee.
The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as when Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously included among the four producers nominated for The Reader (2008). As of 2014 the Producers Branch Executive Committee determines such exceptions, noting they take place only in "rare and extraordinary circumstance[s]."
Steven Spielberg holds the record for most nominations at fourteen, winning one, while Kathleen Kennedy holds the record for most nominations without a win at eight. Sam Spiegel and Saul Zaentz tie for the most wins with three each. During the time when the Oscar was given to production companies instead, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer received the most, with five wins and 40 nominations.
=== Best Picture and Best Director ===
The Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director have been closely linked throughout their history. Of the 98 films that have won Best Picture, 71 have also been awarded Best Director. Only six films have been awarded Best Picture without receiving a Best Director nomination: Wings directed by William A. Wellman (1927/28), Grand Hotel directed by Edmund Goulding (1931/32), Driving Miss Daisy directed by Bruce Beresford (1989), Argo directed by Ben Affleck (2012), Green Book directed by Peter Farrelly (2018), and CODA directed by Sian Heder (2021). The only two Best Director winners to win for films that did not receive a Best Picture nomination were during the early years of the awards: Lewis Milestone for Two Arabian Knights (1927/28), and Frank Lloyd for The Divine Lady (1928/29).
=== Nomination limit increased ===
On June 24, 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that the number of films to be nominated in the Best Picture award category would increase from 5 to 10, starting with the 82nd Academy Awards (2009). Although the Academy never officially said so, many commenters noted the expansion was likely in part a response to public criticism of The Dark Knight and WALL-E (both 2008) (and, in previous years, other blockbusters and popular films) not being nominated for Best Picture. Officially, the Academy said the rule change was a throwback to the Academy's early years in the 1930s and 1940s, when 8 to 12 films were nominated each year. "Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," AMPAS President Sid Ganis said in a press conference. "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February."
At the same time, the voting system was switched from first-past-the-post to instant runoff voting (also known as preferential voting). In 2011, the Academy revised the rule again so that the number of films nominated was between 5 and 10; nominated films must earn either 5% of first-place rankings or 5% after an abbreviated variation of the single transferable vote nominating process. Bruce Davis, the Academy executive director at the time, said, "A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn't feel an obligation to round out the number." This system lasted until 2021, when the Academy reverted back to a set number of ten nominees from the 94th Academy Awards onward.
=== Language and country of origin ===
Twenty-one non-English language films have been nominated in the category: La Grande Illusion (French, 1938); Z (French, 1969); The Emigrants (Swedish, 1972); Cries and Whispers (Swedish, 1973); The Postman (Il Postino) (Italian/Spanish, 1995); Life Is Beautiful (Italian, 1998); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Mandarin Chinese, 2000); Letters from Iwo Jima (Japanese, 2006, but ineligible for Best Foreign Language Film because it was an American production); Amour (French, 2012); Roma (Spanish/Mixtec, 2018); Parasite (Korean, 2019); Minari (Korean, 2020, but ineligible for Best International Feature Film because it was an American production); Drive My Car (Japanese/Korean/Mandarin Chinese/German/Korean Sign Language, 2021), All Quiet on the Western Front (German, 2022), Anatomy of a Fall (French, 2023), Past Lives (Korean, 2023, but ineligible for Best International Feature Film because it was an American production), The Zone of Interest (German/Polish/Yiddish, 2023), Emilia Pérez (Spanish, 2024), I'm Still Here (Portuguese, 2024), The Secret Agent (Portuguese, 2025), and Sentimental Value (Norwegian, 2025). Parasite became the first film not in English to win Best Picture.
Ten films wholly financed outside the United States have won Best Picture, eight of which were financed, in part or in whole, by the United Kingdom: Hamlet (1948), Tom Jones (1963), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982), The Last Emperor (1987), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and The King's Speech (2010). The ninth film, The Artist (2011), was financed in France, and the tenth film, Parasite (2019), was financed in South Korea.
=== Rating ===
Since 1968, most Best Picture winners have been rated R under the Motion Picture Association's rating system. Oliver! is the only G-rated film and Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film (what is categorized as an NC-17 film today), so far, to win Best Picture; they won in back-to-back years, 1968 and 1969. The latter has since been changed to an R rating. Eleven films have won with a PG rating: the first was Patton (1970) and the most recent was Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Eleven more films have won with a PG-13 rating (which was introduced in 1984): the first was The Last Emperor (1987) and the most recent was CODA (2021). For unrated films, A Room with a View (1985) is the first film to not be rated by the MPA and be nominated Best Picture, though no unrated films have won Best Picture.
=== Genres and mediums ===
Three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009), and Toy Story 3 (2010). The latter two were nominated after the Academy expanded the number of nominees, but none have won.
No comic book film has won, although three have been nominated: Skippy (1931), Black Panther (2018), and Joker (2019).
Two fantasy films have won: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Shape of Water (2017), although more have been nominated.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is the only horror/thriller film to win Best Picture. Eight others have been nominated: The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), Get Out (2017), The Substance (2024), Frankenstein (2025), and Sinners (2025).
Several science-fiction films have been nominated for Best Picture, though Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was the first one to win.
Titanic (1997) is the only disaster film to win Best Picture, though other such films have been nominated, including Airport (1970) and The Towering Inferno (1974).
No documentary has been nominated for Best Picture, although Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness was nominated in the Unique and Artistic Picture category at the 1927/28 awards. A Best Documentary Feature category was introduced in 1941.
Several musical adaptations based on material previously filmed in non-musical form have won Best Picture, including Gigi, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver!, and Chicago.
Several epics or historical epic films have won Best Picture, including the first recipient Wings. Others include Cimarron, Cavalcade, Gone with the Wind, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Gandhi, The Last Emperor, Dances With Wolves, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, The English Patient, Titanic, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and Oppenheimer.
Several war films have been nominated for Best Picture, with Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front, From Here to Eternity, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, Platoon, and The Hurt Locker being some of the many winners.
=== Sequel nominations and winners ===
Ten films that were presented as direct sequels have been nominated for Best Picture: The Bells of St. Mary's (1945; the sequel to the 1944 winner, Going My Way), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Godfather Part III (1990), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Toy Story 3 (2010), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), and Dune: Part Two (2024).
Toy Story 3, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Top Gun: Maverick are the only sequels to be nominated without any predecessors being nominated. The Godfather Part II and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are the only sequels to have won the award, and their respective trilogies are the only series to have three films nominated. The Godfather series is the only film series with multiple Best Picture winners, with the first film winning the award for 1972 and the second film winning the award for 1974.
Another nominee, Broadway Melody of 1936, was a follow-up of sorts to previous winner The Broadway Melody, but beyond the title and some music, the two films have mutually independent stories. The Silence of the Lambs was adapted from the sequel novel to Red Dragon, which had been adapted for film as Manhunter by a different studio, but the two films have different casts and creative teams and were not presented as a series; an adaptation of Red Dragon in the same continuity as The Silence of the Lambs was later produced. Conversely, 2024's Wicked uses iconography and characters who appeared in 1939's The Wizard of Oz and other Oz films, but is not a direct prequel to any film.
The Lion in Winter features Peter O'Toole as King Henry II, a role he had played previously in the film Becket, but The Lion in Winter is not a sequel to Becket. Similarly, The Queen features Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, a role he had played previously in the television film The Deal. Christine Langan, producer of both productions, described The Queen as not being a direct sequel, only that it reunited the same creative team.
Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima was a companion piece to his film Flags of Our Fathers that was released earlier the same year. These two films depict the same battle from the different viewpoints of Japanese and United States military forces; the two films were shot back-to-back.
In addition, Black Panther is a continuation of the events that occurred in Captain America: Civil War and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
=== Remake nominations and winners ===
Along similar lines to sequels, there have been few nominees and winners that are either remakes or adaptations of the same source materials or subjects.
Ben-Hur, which won Best Picture of 1959, is a remake of the 1925 silent film with a similar title and both were adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The Departed, which won Best Picture of 2006, is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and is the first remake of a non-English language or international film to win.
Other nominees include 1963's Cleopatra about the titular last queen of Egypt following the 1934 version, 2018's A Star is Born following the 1937 film of the same name, and 2019's Little Women following the 1933 film of the same name with both being adaptations of the 1868 novel. True Grit, which was nominated for Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards, is the second adaptation of Charles Portis's 1968 novel following the 1969 film of the same name.
Four of the nominees for the 94th ceremony were based on source material previously made into films: CODA, Dune, Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story. The 2021 version of West Side Story became the second adaptation of the same source material for a previous Best Picture winner to be nominated for the same award after 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty. For that same ceremony, CODA became the second remake of a non-English-language or international film to win.
The 2022 German-language All Quiet on the Western Front is the second adaptation of the 1929 novel after the 1930 English-language film, and the third adaptation of the same source material of a previous Best Picture winner.
=== Silent film winners ===
At the 1st Academy Awards, the Best Picture award (then named "Academy Award for Outstanding Picture") was presented to the 1927 silent film Wings.
The Artist (2011) was the first essentially silent (with the exception of a single scene of dialogue, and a dream sequence with sound effects) film since Wings to win Best Picture. It was the first silent nominee since 1928's The Patriot and the first Best Picture winner to be produced entirely in black-and-white since 1960's The Apartment. (Schindler's List, the 1993 winner, was predominantly black-and-white but contains some color sequences.)
=== Version availability ===
No Best Picture winner has been lost, though a few such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Lawrence of Arabia exist only in a form altered from their original, award-winning release form. This has usually been due to editing for reissue (and subsequently partly restored by archivists). Other winners and nominees, such as Tom Jones (prior to its 2018 reissues by The Criterion Collection and the British Film Institute) and Star Wars, are widely available only in subsequently altered versions. The Broadway Melody originally had some sequences photographed in two-color Technicolor. This footage survives only in black and white.
The 1928 film The Patriot is the only Best Picture nominee that is lost (about one-third is extant). The Racket, also from 1928, was believed lost for many years until a print was found in Howard Hughes' archives. It has since been restored and shown on Turner Classic Movies. The only surviving complete prints of 1931's East Lynne and 1934's The White Parade exist within the UCLA film archive.
=== Diversity standards ===
The Academy has established a set of "representation and inclusion standards", called Academy Aperture 2025, which a film is now required to satisfy in order to compete in the Best Picture category, starting with the 96th Academy Awards for films released in 2023. There are four general standards, of which a film must satisfy two to be considered for Best Picture: (a) on-screen representation, themes and narratives; (b) creative leadership and project team; (c) industry access and opportunities; and (d) audience development. As explained by Vox, the standards "basically break down into two big buckets: standards promoting more inclusive representation and standards promoting more inclusive employment". The standards are intended to provide greater opportunities for employment, in cast, crew, studio apprenticeships and internships, and development, marketing, publicity, and distribution executives, among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, women, LGBTQ+ people, and persons with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing.
These standards only apply to the Best Picture category and do not affect a film's eligibility in other Oscar categories. For the 94th and 95th Academy Awards (films released in 2021 and 2022), filmmakers were required to submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form to be considered for Best Picture but were not required to fulfill the standards.
=== 2016 ceremony mistake ===
At the 89th Academy Awards on February 26, 2017, presenter Faye Dunaway read La La Land as the winner of the award. However, she and Warren Beatty had mistakenly been given the duplicate envelope for the "Best Actress in a Leading Role" award, which Emma Stone had won for her role in La La Land. While accepting the award, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz, who was given the correct envelope, realized the mistake and announced that Moonlight had won the award.
== Criticisms and controversies ==
=== High Noon and The Greatest Show on Earth ===
In 2013, the selection of The Greatest Show on Earth rather than High Noon at the 25th Academy Awards was listed by Time among the 10 most controversial Best Picture races. Retrospectively, The Greatest Show on Earth has been considered by some to be one of the worst Best Picture winners in history.
=== Diversity criticisms ===
In general, the awardees of that category have been criticized for disproportionately recognizing films about white men over those of women or non-white people. In opposition, the Academy's decision to favor Best Picture winning films with depiction of race relations among people of color—most primarily Driving Miss Daisy, Crash, and Green Book, all of which were directed by white filmmakers—led to significant backlash over racism against the Academy.
In 2005, Brokeback Mountain losing the Best Picture to Crash was heavily criticized, with some critics such as Kenneth Turan accusing the Academy members of homophobia and benefitting from making a non-groundbreaking choice in Crash, considered as one of the most notable Oscars upsets. After announcing the award, presenter Jack Nicholson was caught on camera mouthing the word "whoa" out of apparent surprise at the result. The film's use of moral quandary as a storytelling medium was widely reported as ironic, since many saw it as the "safe" alternative to Brokeback Mountain, which is about a gay relationship (the other nominees, Good Night, and Good Luck, Capote, and Munich also tackle heavy subjects of McCarthyism, homosexuality, and terrorism, respectively).
Though there have been exceptions like Barry Jenkins's Moonlight, films like Precious and Get Out have been seen as potentially being shut out of the Best Picture race because of older and white Academy voters choosing not to see them. From 2018 onwards, the Academy made an effort to add more younger, female, non-white, and non-American voters, and to create a non-voting "emeritus" status for people who had not worked in the film industry after a certain length of time, in order to diversify and rejuvenate their voter bloc.
=== Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love ===
Saving Private Ryan was immediately pegged as a favorite for the category by many members and fans of Spielberg's films, but it lost to Shakespeare in Love. The Academy's decision was widely criticized. The choice was seen as one of the biggest upsets in the award's history, and led to DreamWorks executives (including Terry Press) and many industry pundits accusing Miramax Films and one of the Shakespeare in Love producers, Harvey Weinstein, of winning due to their award campaign's negative messaging against Saving Private Ryan rather than their own film's merits. Press stated that Weinstein and Miramax "tried to get everybody to believe that Saving Private Ryan was all in the first 15 minutes".
=== Animated films in Best Picture category ===
The category of Best Animated Feature was created for the 74th Academy Awards to ensure the recognition of animated films; prior to its creation, the only animated film ever nominated for Best Picture was 1991's Beauty and the Beast. However, the award has since received criticism on the grounds that it discourages animated films from being eligible to win Best Picture. While the Academy rules allow for a film to be nominated in both categories, only two animated films (Up and Toy Story 3) have been nominated for Best Picture since the creation of the two categories.
A prominent example was the 2001 film Shrek; DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who also served as producer, campaigned heavily for it to be awarded Best Picture, but it was not nominated in the category despite receiving nominations for a Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy, PGA Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, BAFTA Award for Best Film, and Critics' Choice Awards for Best Picture (and was the first animated film nominated in the latter three categories). Similarly, the 2008 film WALL-E received many accolades and garnered speculation that it might be nominated for Best Picture, but it was instead nominated for six categories, tying with Beauty and the Beast as the most nominated animated films in Oscar history, and won the award for Best Animated Feature Film. Other animated films that garnered Best Picture speculation but were ultimately not nominated include Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The Boy and the Heron, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with the former two films winning Best Animated Feature Film at back-to-back ceremonies.
=== Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close nomination ===
Critics and audiences criticized Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close's nomination for Best Picture, with some calling the film one of the worst Best Picture nominees ever. Chris Krapek of The Huffington Post wrote very negatively about the film's nomination, calling the film "not only the worst reviewed Best Picture nominee of the last 10 years, [but] easily the worst film of 2011". Paste Magazine's Adam Vitcavage called the film's consensus for a Best Picture nominee "certainly the worst for at least 28 years", and David Gritten of The Telegraph called the nomination "mysterious".
=== Emilia Pérez nomination ===
The nomination of Emilia Pérez for Best Picture, among other categories, was heavily criticized. Critics took issue with the film's portrayal of trans characters, and its portrayal of Mexican culture, including director Jacques Audiard's claims about the Spanish language being "a language of developing countries, it's a language of countries of few means, of poor people, of migrants."
Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the titular role, accused the team of fellow Best Picture nominee I'm Still Here (as well as its lead, fellow Best Actress nominee Fernanda Torres) of running a smear campaign against her and Emilia Pérez, which is explicitly against AMPAS's rules of campaigning. The accusations were found to be baseless and itself perceived as an attempt to smear Torres's and I'm Still Here's reputation. As attention grew around Gascón, a series of tweets in which she made several bigoted comments, of racist and Islamophobic nature, were unearthed by Canadian journalist Sarah Hagi. The majority of Oscar pundits agreed that this marked the end of Emilia Pérez's, the year's most nominated film, chances of winning Best Picture.
== Winners and nominees ==
In the list below, winners are listed first in the gold row, followed by the other nominees. Except for the early years (when the Academy used a non-calendar year), the year shown is the one in which the film first premiered in Los Angeles County, California; normally this is also the year of first release, but it may be the year after first release (as with Casablanca and, if the film-festival premiere is considered, Crash and The Hurt Locker). This is also the year before the ceremony at which the award is given; for example, a film exhibited theatrically during 2005 was eligible for consideration for the 2005 Best Picture Oscar, awarded in 2006. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears in parentheses after the awards year, linked to the article on that ceremony. Each individual entry shows the title followed by nominee.
Until 1950, the Best Picture award was given to the production company; from 1951 on, it has gone to the producer or producers. The Academy used the producer credits of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) until 1998, when all five producers of Shakespeare in Love made speeches after its win. A three-producer limit has been applied some years since. There was controversy over the exclusion of some PGA-credited producers of Crash and Little Miss Sunshine. The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as when Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously among the four nominated for The Reader. However, now any number of producers on a film can be nominated for Best Picture, should they be deemed eligible.
For the first ceremony, three films were nominated for the award. For the following three years, five films were nominated for the award. This was expanded to eight in 1933, to ten in 1934, and to twelve in 1935, before being dropped back to ten in 1937. In 1945, it was further reduced to five. This number remained until 2009, when the limit was raised to ten; it was adjusted from 2011 to 2020 to vary between five and ten, but has been a full ten since 2022.
For the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. For example, the 2nd Academy Awards presented on April 3, 1930, recognized films that were released between August 1, 1928, and July 31, 1929. Starting with the 7th Academy Awards, held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31. This has been the rule every year since except 2020, when the end date was extended to February 28, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021, which was correspondingly limited to March 1 to December 31.
Since 2023, the category's winners and nominees from the 1927/28 and 1928/29 ceremonies have entered the public domain.
=== 1920s ===
=== 1930s ===
=== 1940s ===
=== 1950s ===
=== 1960s ===
=== 1970s ===
=== 1980s ===
=== 1990s ===
=== 2000s ===
=== 2010s ===
=== 2020s ===
== Age superlatives ==
== Individuals with multiple wins ==
== Individuals with multiple nominations ==
== Production companies and distributors with multiple nominations and wins ==
Columbia Pictures and United Artists have the most wins with 12, while 20th Century Fox has the most nominations with 64. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Records | Warner Records | Warner Records Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the American film studio
Warner Bros. Pictures.
== History ==
=== Founding ===
At the end of the silent movie period, Warner Bros. Pictures decided to expand into publishing and recording so that it could access low-cost music content for its films. In 1928, the studio acquired several smaller music publishing firms which included M. Witmark & Sons, Harms Inc., and a partial interest in New World Music Corp., and merged them to form the Music Publishers Holding Company. This new group controlled valuable copyrights on standards by George and Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern, and the new division was soon earning solid profits of up to US$2 million every year.
In 1930, Music Publishers Holding Company (MPHC) paid US$28 million to acquire Brunswick Records (which included Vocalion), whose roster included Duke Ellington, Red Nichols, Nick Lucas, Al Jolson, Earl Burtnett, Ethel Waters, Abe Lyman, Leroy Carr, Tampa Red and Memphis Minnie, and soon after the sale to Warner Bros., the label signed rising radio and recording stars Bing Crosby, Mills Brothers, and Boswell Sisters. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the dual impact of the Great Depression and the introduction of broadcast radio greatly harmed the recording industry—sales crashed, dropping by around 90% from more than 100 million records in 1927 to fewer than 10 million by 1932 and major companies were forced to halve the price of records from 75 to 35 cents.
In December 1931, Warner Bros. offloaded Brunswick to the American Record Corporation (ARC) for a fraction of its former value, in a lease arrangement which did not include Brunswick's pressing plants. Technically, Warner maintained actual ownership of Brunswick, which with the sale of ARC to CBS in 1939 and their decision to discontinue Brunswick in favor of reviving the Columbia label, reverted to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. sold Brunswick a second time (along with Brunswick's back catalog up to 1931) in 1941, this time along with the old Brunswick pressing plants Warner owned, to Decca Records (which formed its American operations in 1934) in exchange for a financial interest in Decca. The heavy loss it incurred in the Brunswick deal kept the studio out of the record business for almost 20 years, and during this period it licensed its film music to other companies for release as soundtrack albums.
=== 1958–1963: Formation and early years ===
Warner Bros. returned to the record business on March 19, 1958, with the establishment of its own recording division, Warner Bros. Records. By this time, the established Hollywood studios were reeling from multiple challenges to their former dominance—the most notable being the introduction of television in the late 1940s. Legal changes also had a major impact on their business—lawsuits brought by major stars had effectively overthrown the old studio contract system by the late 1940s and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the U.S. government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains.
In 1956, Harry Warner and Albert Warner sold their interest in the studio and the board was joined by new members who favored a renewed expansion into the music business—Charles Allen of the investment bank Charles Allen & Company, Serge Semenenko of the First National Bank of Boston and investor David Baird. Semenenko in particular had a strong professional interest in the entertainment business and he began to push Jack Warner on the issue of setting up an 'in-house' record label. With the record business booming – sales had topped US$500 million by 1958 – Semnenko argued that it was foolish for Warner Bros. to make deals with other companies to release its soundtracks when, for less than the cost of one motion picture, they could establish their own label, creating a new income stream that could continue indefinitely and provide an additional means of exploiting and promoting its contract actors.
Another impetus for the label's creation was the music career of Warner Bros. actor Tab Hunter. Although Hunter was signed to an exclusive acting contract with the studio, it did not prevent him from signing a recording contract, which he did with Dot Records, owned at the time by Paramount Pictures. Hunter scored several hits for Dot, including the US No. 1 single, "Young Love" (1957) and, to Warner Bros.' chagrin, reporters were primarily asking about the hit record, rather than Hunter's latest Warner movie. In 1958, the studio signed Hunter as its first artist to its newly formed record division, although his subsequent recordings for the label failed to duplicate his success with Dot.
Warner Bros. agreed to buy Imperial Records in 1956 and, although the deal fell apart, it marked the breaking of a psychological barrier: "If the company was willing to buy another label, why not start its own?" To establish the label, the company hired former Columbia Records president James B. Conkling; its founding directors of A&R were Harris Ashburn, George Avakian, and Bob Prince. Conkling was an able administrator with extensive experience in the industry—he had been instrumental in launching the LP format at Columbia and had played a key role in establishing the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences the previous year. However, Conkling had decidedly middle-of-the-road musical tastes (he was married to Donna King of vocal quartet the King Sisters), and was thus rather out of step with emerging trends in the industry, especially the fast-growing market for rock 'n' roll music.
Warner Bros. Records opened for business on March 19, 1958. Its early album releases (1958–1960) were aimed at the upscale end of the mainstream audience, and Warner Bros. took an early (though largely unsuccessful) lead in recording stereo LPs that targeted the new "hi-fi" market. The catalogue in this period included:
vocal/spoken word albums by Warner contract players such as Tab Hunter, Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens, Jack Webb and William Holden
novelty/comedy albums by artists such as Spike Jones and Bob Newhart
film soundtracks and collections of film and TV themes
'middle of the road' instrumental albums by artists including Matty Matlock, Buddy Cole, Henry Mancini, George Greeley, Warren Barker and "Ira Ironstrings" (a pseudonym for guitarist Alvino Rey, Conkling's brother-in-law, who was in fact under contract to Capitol Records at the time).
Some albums featured jokey or self-deprecating titles such as:
Music for People with $3.98 (Plus Tax If Any),
Terribly Sophisticated Songs: A Collection of Unpopular Songs for Popular People,
Songs the Kids Brought Home from Camp,
Please Don't Put Your Empties on the Piano, and
But You've Never Heard Gershwin with Bongos.
Almost all were commercial failures; and the only charting album in Warner Bros.' first two years was Warren Barker's 'soundtrack' album for the studio's hit series 77 Sunset Strip, which reached No. 3 in 1959. Tab Hunter's "Jealous Heart" (WB 5008), which reached No. 62, was Warner Bros.' only charting single during its first year.
Early Warner Bros. singles had distinctive pink labels, with the WB logo at the top center and "WARNER" in white Hellenic font to the left of the WB shield and "BROS." in the same color and style font to the right. Below the shield in white Rockwell font, it read "VITAPHONIC HIGH FIDELITY;" this 45 label was used for two years, 1958 – 1960. This initial 45 label was soon replaced by a new, all-red label with the WB shield logo at 9 o'clock and a number of different-colored arrows (blue, chartreuse, and yellow) surrounding and pointing away from the center hole. The first hit was the novelty record "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", with words and music by Irving Taylor, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was nominally performed by Warner contract actor Edd Byrnes, who played the wisecracking hipster character Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III on Warner's TV detective series 77 Sunset Strip. The story behind the recording illustrates the sharp practices often employed by major recording companies. Actress and singer Connie Stevens (who appeared in the Warner TV series Hawaiian Eye) spoke on the song's chorus, but although her record contract entitled her to a five-percent royalty rate, the label arbitrarily defined her contribution to be a favor to Byrnes, and assigned her just 1% royalty on the song, despite the fact that, as she soon discovered, her name was being prominently displayed on the single's label. Warner Bros. also charged her for a share of the recording costs, which was to be recouped from her drastically reduced royalty. When Stevens scored her own hit single with "Sixteen Reasons" in 1960, Warner Bros. refused to allow her to perform it on Hawaiian Eye because it was not published by MPHC, and they also prevented her from singing it on The Ed Sullivan Show, thereby robbing her of nationwide promotion (and a $5000 appearance fee).
With only two hits to its credit in two years, the label was in serious financial trouble by 1960, having lost at least US$3 million. Music historian Fredric Dannen reported that the only reason it was not closed down was the Warner board's reluctance to write off the additional $2 million the label was owed in outstanding receivables and inventory. After a restructure, Conkling was obliged to report to Herman Starr. He rejected a buyout offer by Conkling and a group of other record company employees but agreed to keep the label running in exchange for heavy cost-cutting—the staff was reduced from 100 to 30 and Conkling voluntarily cut his own pay from $1000 to $500.
Warner Bros. now turned to rock 'n' roll acts in hopes of advancing its sales but their first signing, Bill Haley, was by then past his prime and failed to score any hits. The label was more fortunate with its next signing, the Everly Brothers, whom Warner Bros. secured after the end of their previous contract with Cadence Records. Herman Starr effectively gambled the future of the company by approving what was reputed to be the first million-dollar contract in music history, which guaranteed the Everly Brothers $525,000 against an escalating royalty rate of up to 7 percent, well above the industry standard of the day. The duo were fielding offers from all the major labels as their Cadence contract wound up, but Warners eventually won out because the brothers harboured ambitions to branch out into film, and the label's connection to the movie studio provided the perfect opportunity. Luckily, the Everlys' first Warner Bros. single "Cathy's Clown" was a smash hit, climbing to No. 1 in the US and selling more than eight million copies, and their debut Warner Bros. album It's Everly Time reached No. 9 on the album chart.
In late 1959, Warner Bros signed a virtually unknown Chicago-based comedian, Bob Newhart, marking the beginning of the label's continuing involvement with comedy. Newhart provided the label's next major commercial breakthrough — in May 1960, three months after the success of "Cathy's Clown", Newhart's debut album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart unexpectedly shot straight to No. 1 in the US, staying at the top for fourteen weeks, charting for more than two years and selling more than 600,000 copies. Capping this commercial success, Newhart scored historic wins in three major categories at the 1961 Grammy Awards — he won Album of the Year for Button-Down Mind, his quickly released follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back (1960) won the Best Comedy Performance–Spoken Word category, and Newhart himself won Best New Artist, the first time in Grammy history that a comedy album had won Album of the Year, and the only time a comedian has won Best New Artist.
Interviewed for the official Warner Bros Records history in 2008, Newhart recalled at the time he signed with the label he was totally unknown outside Chicago, he was still working full-time as an accountant, and he had done only a few local radio and TV appearances. His break came thanks to a friend, local DJ Dan Sorkin, who knew Warner CEO Jim Conkling. Sorkin arranged for Newhart to make a demo tape of a few of his original sketches, which Conkling heard and liked. Equally remarkably, Newhart revealed that he had never performed in a club before recording the album. Warners arranged to record him at a Houston, Texas club called The Tidelands, where he was booked for a two-week residency as the opening act, beginning February 12, 1960, and Newhart freely admitted to being "terrified" on his first night. He quickly realised that he had only enough material for one side of an album, but by the time Warner A&R manager George Avakian arrived for the recording, Newhart had hastily written enough new material to fill both sides of an LP. When Newhart contacted Warners in April to find out when the album would be released, he was amazed to be told that the label was rushing all available copies to Minneapolis, because radio DJs there had broken it, and it had become so popular that a local newspaper was even printing the times that tracks would be played on air. He recalled that the success of the album almost instantly kick-started his career, and that he was soon being deluged with appearance offers, including The Ed Sullivan Show. A few months later, when Newhart met Conkling and Jack Warner at a dinner, he recalled that Warner effusively greeted him as "the man who saved Warner Brothers Records".
Despite the turnaround in the label's commercial and critical fortunes at the start of the new decade, Jim Conkling was unexpectedly forced out as CEO during 1961. The ostensible reason for his ousting was that Warner and the studio executives doubted Conkling's commitment to the label, after they discovered that he had sold his shares of Warner Bros stock, netting him around $1 million. However, label biographer Warren Zanes and former WBR executive Stan Cornyn both opined that this was merely a pretext, and that the studio effectively scapegoated Conkling for the label's earlier failures, pointing to the fact that Conkling's successor had been selected well before Conkling was terminated. Conkling resigned in the fall of that year, and was replaced by Mike Maitland, another former Capitol Records executive. Around the same time, Joe Smith was appointed as head of promotions.
Warner Bros. made another prescient signing in folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio had been on the verge of signing with Atlantic Records, but before the deal could be completed they were poached by Warner Bros. Artie Mogull (who worked for one of Warner Bros.' publishing companies, Witmark Music) had introduced their manager Albert Grossman to Herman Starr, and as a result the group signed a recording and publishing deal with Warner Bros. Grossman's deal for the group broke new ground for recording artists — it included a substantial advance of $30,000 and, most significantly, it set a new benchmark for recording contracts by stipulating that the trio would have complete creative control over the recording and packaging of their music.
Soon after, Grossman and Mogull signed a publishing deal that gave Witmark one of its most lucrative clients, Bob Dylan. Grossman bought out Dylan's previous contract with Leeds Music and signed the then-unknown singer-songwriter to Witmark for an advance of $5000. Two years later in 1963, Peter, Paul & Mary scored two consecutive Top 10 hits with Dylan songs, launching Dylan's career, and this was followed by many more hits by artists covering Dylan's songs, alongside the growing commercial success of Dylan himself. Grossman benefited enormously from both deals, because he took a 25% commission as Dylan's manager, and he structured Dylan's publishing deal so that he received 50% of Witmark's share of Dylan's publishing income—a tactic that was later emulated by other leading artist managers such as David Geffen.
Meanwhile, the label enjoyed further major success with comedy recordings. Comedian Allan Sherman (who had been signed on the personal recommendation of George Burns), issued his first Warner LP My Son, the Folk Singer in 1962. The album, which satirized the folk boom, became a major hit, selling over a million copies, and winning a Gold Record award, and is cited as being the fastest-selling LP ever released in the US up to that time. Sherman also scored a hit single in late 1963 with a cut from his third WBR album, My Son, The Nut, when his song "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" (which satirized the American summer camp tradition) became a surprise novelty hit, peaking at #2.
Bill Cosby broke through soon after and he continued the label's dream run with comedy LPs into the late 1960s, releasing a string of highly successful albums on Warner Bros. over the next six years, alongside his groundbreaking career as a TV actor.
The label's fortunes had finally turned around by 1962 thanks to the Everly Brothers, Newhart, folk stars Peter, Paul & Mary, jazz and pop crossover hit Joanie Sommers and comedian Allan Sherman, and Warner Bros. Records ended the financial year 1961–62 in the black for the first time since its founding.
=== Warner/Reprise 1963–1967 ===
In August 1963, Warner Bros. made a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's ailing Reprise Records as part of a deal to acquire Sinatra's services as a recording artist and as an actor for Warner Bros. Pictures. The total deal was valued at around US$10 million, and it gave Sinatra a one-third share in the combined record company and a seat on the Warner/Reprise board; Warner Bros. Records head Mike Maitland became the president of the new combine and Mo Ostin was retained as manager of the Reprise label.
Reprise was heavily in debt at the time of the takeover, and the Warner Records management team was reportedly dismayed at their balance sheet being pushed back into the red by the acquisition, but they were given no choice in the matter. Ben Kalmenson, a Warner Bros. company director and close aide to Jack Warner, summoned the label's directors to a meeting in New York and explicitly told them that both he and Warner wanted the deal and that they expected them to vote in favor of it.
Despite these misgivings, the purchase ultimately proved very beneficial to the Warner group. Reprise flourished in the late 1960s thanks to Sinatra's famous comeback and the hits by Sinatra and his daughter Nancy, and the label also secured the US distribution rights to the recordings of the Kinks and Jimi Hendrix. Most importantly for the future of the company, the merger brought Reprise manager Mo Ostin into the Warner fold and "his ultimate value to Warner Bros. would dwarf Sinatra's." Ostin's business and musical instincts, and his rapport with artists were to prove crucial to the success of the Warner labels over the next two decades.
In 1964, Warner Bros. launched Loma Records, which was meant to focus on R&B acts. The label, run by former King Records promotion man Bob Krasnow, would release over 100 singles and five albums, but saw only limited success and was wound down in 1968.
An important addition to the Warner Bros. staff in this period was Ed Thrasher, who moved from Columbia Records in 1964 to become Warner/Reprise's head art director. Among his design credits for the Warner family of labels were the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, the Grateful Dead's Anthem of the Sun, the Doobie Brothers' Toulouse Street, Tiny Tim's God Bless Tiny Tim, and Joni Mitchell's Clouds, which set off a trend of musicians creating the artwork for their own record sleeves. In 1973, when Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement with his comeback album, Thrasher shot candid photographs for the cover and also devised the album title Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, which was widely used to promote Sinatra's return to recording and touring. Besides his work on album covers, Thrasher art-directed many of Warner Bros.' ads and posters from 1964 to 1979.
In 1964, Warner Bros. successfully negotiated with French label Disques Vogue and Warner Bros.' British distributor Pye Records for the rights to distribute Petula Clark's recordings in the US (said rights previously being held by Laurie Records). Clark soon scored a No. 1 US hit with "Downtown". Warner also released other Pye artists in the US market, and, in return, Pye distributed recordings issued by Warner in the UK from 1964 to 1970.
Another significant development in the label's history came in 1966 when Ostin hired young independent producer Lenny Waronker as an A&R manager, beginning a strong and enduring mentor/protegé relationship between the two. Waronker, the son of Liberty Records founder Simon Waronker, had previously worked as an assistant to Liberty producer Snuff Garrett. Later he worked with the small San Francisco label Autumn Records, founded by disc jockeys Tom Donahue, Bobby Mitchell, and Sylvester Stewart (who would soon become famous as a musician under his stage name Sly Stone).
Waronker had been hired as a freelance producer for some of Autumn's acts including the Tikis (who later became Harpers Bizarre), the Beau Brummels, and the Mojo Men, and for these recording sessions he brought in several musician friends who were then becoming established on the L.A. music scene: composer/musicians Randy Newman (a childhood friend), Leon Russell, and Van Dyke Parks. Together they became the foundation of the creative salon that centered on Waronker at Warner Bros. and which, with Ostin's continuing support, became the catalyst for Warner Records' subsequent success as a rock music label. Initially, Waronker looked after the acts that Warner Bros. took over when they bought Autumn Records for $10,000, but during the year he also avidly pursued rising Los Angeles band Buffalo Springfield. Although (much to his and Ostin's chagrin) the band was ultimately signed by Atlantic Records, they eventually became part of the Warner Bros. catalogue after Atlantic was purchased by Warner Bros. Records.
In 1967, Warner Bros. took over Valiant Records, which added hit-making harmony pop group the Association to the Warner roster. This acquisition proved to be another huge money-maker for Warner Bros.; the Association scored a string of major hits in the late 1960s, and their 1967 hit "Never My Love" went on to become the second-most-played song on American radio and TV in the 20th century. During the year, the label also took its first tentative step into the burgeoning rock market when they signed leading San Francisco psychedelic rock group the Grateful Dead. Warner Bros. threw the band a release party at Fugazi Hall in San Francisco's North Beach. During the concert, Warner A&R manager Joe Smith took the stage and announced, "I just want to say what an honor it is to be able to introduce the Grateful Dead and its music to the world," which prompted a cynical Jerry Garcia to quip in reply, "I just want to say what an honor it is for the Grateful Dead to introduce Warner Bros. Records to the world."
Also in 1967, Warner/Reprise established its Canadian operation Warner Reprise Canada Ltd., replacing its distribution deal with the Compo Company. This was the origin of Warner Music Canada.
=== 1967–1969: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts ===
In November 1966 the entire Warner group was taken over by and merged with Seven Arts Productions, a New York-based company owned by Eliot Hyman. Seven Arts specialized in syndicating old movies and cartoons to TV, and had independently produced a number of significant feature films for other studios, including Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, as well as forging a successful production partnership with noted British studio Hammer Films. Hyman's purchase of Jack L. Warner's controlling share of the Warner group for US$32 million stunned the film world—Warner Records executive Joe Smith later quipped that it was
... as if the Pasadena Star-News bought The New York Times. As ludicrous as that."
The newly merged group was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (often referred to in the trade press by the abbreviation it adopted for its new logo, "W7"). Although Warner Bros. Pictures was faltering, the purchase coincided with a period of tremendous growth in the music industry, and Warner-Reprise was now on its way to becoming a major player in the industry. Hyman's investment banker Alan Hirshfeld, of Charles Allen and Company, urged him to expand the company's record holdings, and arranged a meeting with Jerry Wexler, and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, co-owners of leading independent label Atlantic Records, which eventually resulted in the purchase of Atlantic in 1968.
In June 1967, Mo Ostin attended the historic Monterey International Pop Festival, where the Association performed the opening set. Ostin had already acquired the US rights to the Jimi Hendrix Experience's recordings, sight unseen, but he was reportedly unimpressed by Hendrix's now-famous performance. During his visit he met Andy Wickham, who had come to Monterey as an assistant to festival promoter Lou Adler. Wickham had worked as a commercial artist in London, followed by a stint with Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records before moving to Los Angeles to work for Adler's Dunhill label. Ostin initially hired Wickham as Warner's "house hippie" on a generous retainer of $200 per week. Hanging out around Laurel Canyon, Wickham scouted for new talent and established a rapport with the young musicians Warner Bros. was seeking to sign. Like Lenny Waronker, Wickham's youth, intelligence and hip attitude allowed him to bridge the "generation gap between these young performers and the older Warner 'establishment'". He played a major role in signing Eric Andersen, Jethro Tull, Van Morrison, and Joni Mitchell (who signed to Reprise), whom Wickham successfully recommended to Ostin in his first week with the company. Over the next thirty years, Wickham became one of Warner's most influential A&R managers, signing such notable acts as Emmylou Harris, Buck Owens, and Norwegian pop trio a-ha.
During this formative period, Warner Bros. made several other notable new signings including Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks. Newman would not make his commercial breakthrough until the mid-1970s but he achieved a high profile in the industry thanks to songs he wrote that were covered by other acts like Three Dog Night and Alan Price. Although Warner Bros. spent large sums on albums that sold poorly, and there were some missteps in its promotion strategy, the presence of unorthodox acts like the Grateful Dead and critically acclaimed 'cult' performers like Newman and Parks, combined with the artistic freedom that the label afforded them, proved significant in building Warner Bros.' reputation and credibility. Bob Krasnow, who briefly headed Warner Bros.' short-lived 'black' label Loma Records, later commented that the Grateful Dead "were really the springboard. People said, 'Wow, if they'll sign The Dead, they must be going in the right direction.'"
Although not widely known to the general public at that time, Van Dyke Parks was a figure of high repute on the L.A. music scene thanks to his work as a session musician and songwriter (notably with the Byrds and Harper's Bizarre), and especially because of his renowned collaboration with Brian Wilson on the legendary unreleased Beach Boys album Smile. In 1967, Lenny Waronker produced Parks' Warner debut album Song Cycle, which reportedly cost more than $35,000 to record, making it one of the most expensive 'pop' albums ever made up to that time. It sold very poorly despite rave critical reviews, so publicist Stan Cornyn (who had helped the label to sign the Grateful Dead) wrote an infamous tongue-in-cheek advertisement to promote it. The ad cheekily declared that the label had "lost $35,509 on 'the album of the year' (dammit)," suggested that those who had purchased the album had probably worn their copies out by playing it over and over, and made the offer that listeners could send these supposedly worn-out copies back to Warner Bros., who would exchange it for two new copies, including one "to educate a friend with." Incensed by the tactic, Parks accused Cornyn of trying to kill his career. Cornyn encountered similar problems with Joni Mitchell—he penned an advertisement that was meant to convey the message that Mitchell was yet to achieve significant market penetration, but the tag-line "Joni Mitchell is 90% Virgin" reportedly reduced Mitchell to tears, and Cornyn had to withdraw it from publication.
Warner Bros. also struggled with their flagship rock act, the Grateful Dead who, like Peter, Paul and Mary, had negotiated complete artistic control over the recording and packaging of their music. Their debut album had been recorded in just four days, and although it was not a major hit, it cracked the US Top 50 album chart and sold steadily, eventually going gold in 1971. For their second album, the Grateful Dead took a far more experimental approach, embarking on a marathon series of recording sessions lasting seven months, from September 1967 to March 1968. They started the album with David Hassinger, who had produced their first album, but he quit the project in frustration in December 1967 while they were recording in New York City (although he is co-credited with the band on the album). The group and their concert sound engineer Dan Healy then took over production of the album themselves, taking the unusual step of intermixing studio material with multitrack recordings of their concerts. Anthem of the Sun proved to be the least successful of the Grateful Dead's 1960s albums—it sold poorly, the extended sessions put the band more than $100,000 in debt to the label, and Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith later described it as "the most unreasonable project with which we have ever involved ourselves."
The Grateful Dead's relationship with Warner Bros. Records was stretched even further by the making of their third album Aoxomoxoa (1969), which also took around seven months to record and cost $180,000, almost twice as much as its predecessor. It sold poorly and took almost thirty years to be accredited with gold-record status. There were further difficulties in 1971 when the band presented Warner Bros. with a planned live double album that they wanted to call Skull Fuck, but Ostin handled the matter diplomatically. Rather than refusing point-blank to release it, he reminded the Grateful Dead that they were heavily in debt to Warner's and would not see any royalties until this had been repaid; he also pointed out that the provocative title would inevitably hurt sales because major retailers like Sears would refuse to stock it. Realizing that this would reduce their income, the band voluntarily changed the title to Grateful Dead, known generally as Skull and Roses.
Some of Warner Bros.' biggest commercial successes during this period were with "Sunshine Pop" acts. Harpers Bizarre scored a No. 13 Billboard hit in April 1967 with their version of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)", and a month later the Association scored a US No. 1 with "Windy", and they reached No. 8 on the album chart with their first Warner Bros. album Insight Out. Their next single "Never My Love" also topped the charts in autumn 1967 (No. 2 Billboard, No. 1 Cashbox), and now ranks as one of the most successful of all Warner Bros. recordings—it became a radio staple and is now accredited by BMI as the second most-played song on US radio in the 20th century, surpassing both "Yesterday" by the Beatles and "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King. The group's 1968 Greatest Hits album was also a major hit, reaching No. 4 on the US album chart. In 1968, Mason Williams' instrumental composition "Classical Gas" reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart, selling more than a million copies, and Williams won three Grammys that year.
Another notable Warner release from this period was Astral Weeks, the second solo album by Van Morrison (his first was on Bang), who signed with the label in 1968. Although it sold relatively poorly on its first release (and did not reach gold record status until 2001), it has been widely acclaimed by musicians and critics worldwide, has featured on many "Best Albums of All Time" lists, and has remained in release almost continuously since 1968.
During 1968, using the profits from Warner/Reprise, W7 purchased Atlantic Records for $17.5 million, including the label's valuable archive, its growing roster of new artists, and the services of its three renowned executives Jerry Wexler, Nesuhi Ertegun and Ahmet Ertegun. However, the purchase again caused rancor among the Warner/Reprise management, who were upset that their hard-won profits had been co-opted to buy Atlantic, and that Atlantic's executives were made large shareholders in Warner-Seven Arts—the deal gave the Ertegun brothers and Wexler between them 66,000 shares of Warner Bros.' common stock.
On June 1, 1968, Billboard announced that Warner Bros. Records' star comedy performer Bill Cosby had turned down a five-year, US$3.5 million contract renewal offer, and would leave the label in August of that year to record for his own Tetragrammaton Records label. Just over one month later (July 13) Billboard reported on a major reorganization of the entire Warner-Seven Arts music division. Mike Maitland was promoted to Executive Vice-president of both the recorded music and publishing operations, and George Lee took over from Victor Blau as operational head of the recording division. The restructure also reversed the reporting arrangement put in place in 1960, and from this point the Warner publishing arm reported to the record division under Maitland. The Billboard article also noted the enormous growth and vital significance of W7's music operations, which were by then providing most of Warner-Seven Arts' revenue—during the first nine months of that fiscal year, the recording and publishing divisions generated 74% of the corporation's total profit, with the publishing division alone accounting for over US$2 million of ASCAP's collections from music users.
=== 1969–1972: Kinney takeover ===
In 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was taken over by the Kinney National Company, headed by New York businessman Steve J. Ross, who would successfully lead the Warner group of companies until his death in 1992. The US$400 million deal created a new conglomerate that combined the Warner film, television, recording, and music publishing divisions with Kinney's multi-faceted holdings. Ross had founded the company in the late 1950s while working in his family's funeral business—seeing the opportunity to use the company's cars, which were idle at night, he founded a successful car hire operation, which he later merged with the Kinney parking garage company. Ross took the company public in 1962, and from this base it expanded rapidly between 1966 and 1968, merging with National Cleaning Services in 1966 to form the Kinney National Company, and then acquiring a string of companies that would prove of enormous value to the Warner group in the years ahead–National Periodical Publications (which included DC Comics and All American Comics), the Ashley-Famous talent agency, and Panavision.
In the summer of 1969, Atlantic Records agreed to assist Warner Bros. Records in establishing overseas divisions, but when Warner executive Phil Rose arrived in Australia to begin setting up a subsidiary there, he discovered that just one week earlier Atlantic had signed a new four-year production and distribution deal with local label Festival Records without informing Warner Bros.
During 1969, the rivalry between Mike Maitland and Ahmet Ertegun quickly escalated into an all-out executive battle, but Steve Ross favored Ertegun, and the conflict culminated in Maitland being dismissed from his position on January 25, 1970. He declined an offer of a job with Warner Bros. Pictures and left the company, subsequently becoming president of MCA Records. Mo Ostin was appointed president of Warner Bros. Records with Joe Smith as executive vice-president.
In 1970, the 'Seven Arts' name was dropped and the WB shield became the Warner Bros. Records logo again.
=== 1970–1979: The Ostin era ===
Beginning back in 1967 with the signing of the Grateful Dead, Warner Bros. Records and its affiliate labels steadily built up a diverse and prestigious lineup of rock and pop artists through the 1970s, and earning a strong reputation as an "artists first" record company. Under the guidance of Edward West, vice-president of Warner Bros. Records Inc in 1973 and its executives, A&R managers and staff producers, including Mo Ostin, Chason Samuel, David Geffen, Joe Smith, Stan Cornyn, Lenny Waronker, Andy Wickham, Russ Titelman and ex-Warner Bros. recording artist (with Harpers Bizarre) Ted Templeman, sales grew steadily throughout the decade and by the end of the 1970s Warner Bros. and its sister labels had become one of the world's leading recording groups, with a star-studded roster that included Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Van Morrison, America, Alice Cooper, Carly Simon, Van Halen, the Doobie Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Chaka Khan, Ambrosia, and Rickie Lee Jones. This was augmented by the group's valuable back-catalogue, and lucrative licensing deals with American and international labels including Sire, Vertigo and Island Records (1975–1982) that gave WBR the American distribution rights for leading British and European rock acts including Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Roxy Music, King Crimson and Kraftwerk. Aided by the growth of FM radio and the album oriented rock format, LPs became the primary vehicle of Warner Bros. sales successes throughout the 1970s, although artists such as the Doobie Brothers and America also scored many major US and international hit singles.
One of the first Warner Bros. albums to achieve both critical and commercial success in the early 1970s was Van Morrison's third solo album Moondance, which consolidated his distinctive blend of rock, jazz and R&B, earned glowing critical praise and sold well—it made the Top 40 album chart in both the US and the UK, the single "Come Running" was a US Top 40 hit (No. 39, Billboard) and the title track became a radio perennial.
British group Black Sabbath were signed to Philips Records' progressive subsidiary Vertigo in their native country. Deep Purple, who recorded for EMI's Parlophone and Harvest labels in England, were originally signed in the US to the independent Tetragrammaton Records, which was distributed by Warner Bros., who acquired the label after it folded in 1970. Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album (recorded in just two days) reached No. 8 on the UK album chart, and No. 23 on the Billboard 200, where it remained for over a year, selling strongly despite some negative reviews. It has since been certified platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and in the UK by British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Sabbath's second album was to have been called War Pigs, but Warner Bros. Records changed the title to Paranoid fearing a backlash by consumers. It was a Top 10 hit on the US album chart in 1971, and went on to sell four million copies in the US alone with virtually no radio airplay.
By 1970, "Seven Arts" was dropped from the company name and the WB shield became the Warner Bros. Records logo again. During 1972, a financial scandal in its parking operations forced Kinney National to spin off its non-entertainment assets, and the Warner recording, publishing and film divisions then became part of a new umbrella company, Warner Communications.
In July 1970, the Warner recording group acquired another prestige asset with the purchase of Jac Holzman's Elektra Records for US$10 million. Like Atlantic, the new acquisition came with a very valuable back-catalogue, which included the Doors, Love, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Tim Buckley, the Stooges, MC5 and Bread, but Elektra soon began producing more major hits under the Warner umbrella. Recent signing Carly Simon scored two successive Top 20 singles in 1971 with "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and "Anticipation", and her first two albums both made the Billboard Top 50, but the following year she topped the single and album charts with her international smash hit "You're So Vain" and the album No Secrets, which both went to No. 1 in the US. Jac Holzman ran the label until 1972, when he was succeeded by David Geffen and Elektra was merged with Geffen's label Asylum Records. Geffen was forced to step down in 1975 for health reasons and Joe Smith was appointed president in his place, although the label's fortunes subsequently waned considerably, with Elektra-Asylum reportedly losing some $27 million during the last two years of Smith's tenure.
With three co-owned record companies, the next step was the formation of the group's in-house distribution arm, initially called Kinney Records Distributing Corporation, to better control distribution of product and make sure records by breaking new acts were available.
In 1971, UK-based pop rock trio America were signed to the recently established British division of Warner Bros. Their debut album, released late in the year, at first enjoyed only moderate success, but in early 1972 their single "A Horse with No Name" became a major international hit, reaching No. 1 in the US. Warner hastily reissued the album with the song included and it too became a huge hit, reaching No. 1 on the US album chart and eventually earning a platinum record award. Although criticized for their similarity to Neil Young (indeed, rumors circulated around Hollywood that Young had cut the track anonymously), America scored five more US Top 10 singles over the next three years, including a second US No. 1 with "Sister Golden Hair" in 1975. Their albums performed very strongly in the charts—each of their first seven albums were US Top 40 albums, five of these made the Top 10 and all but one (Hat Trick, 1973) achieved either gold or platinum status. Their 1975 Greatest Hits album became a perennial seller and is now accredited at 4× platinum.
In 1972, Dionne Warwick was signed to Warner Bros. Records after leaving Scepter Records in what was the biggest contract at the time for a female recording artist, although her five years at Warner Bros. were relatively unsuccessful in comparison to her spectacular hit-making tenure at Scepter.
After a slow start, the Doobie Brothers proved to be one of Warner Bros.' most successful signings. Their debut album made little impact but their second album Toulouse Street (1972) reached No. 21 and spawned two US Top 40 singles, "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright", inaugurating a string of hit albums and singles over the next five years. Their third album The Captain and Me was even more successful, reaching No. 7 in the US and producing two more hit singles, "China Grove" (#15) and "Long Train Runnin'" (#8); it became a consistent seller and is now accredited 2× Platinum by the RIAA. What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (1974) reached No. 4 and produced two more hits including their first US No. 1 single "Black Water" (1975). Stampede also reached No. 4, and produced another hit single with the Motown cover "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)" (US #11).
Warner Bros. Records' reputation for nurturing new artists was demonstrated by the career of Alice Cooper (originally the name of the band, but later taken over as the stage name / persona of singer and main songwriter Vince Furnier). The Alice Cooper band recorded two unsuccessful albums for Frank Zappa's Warner-distributed label Straight Records before teaming with producer Bob Ezrin, who became a longtime collaborator. Their third LP Love it to Death (originally released on Straight and later reissued on Warner Bros.) reached No. 35 on the Billboard album chart and produced the hit single "I'm Eighteen", which reached No. 21. Following the runaway success of their 1971 European tour Warner Bros. Records offered the band a multi-album contract; their first Warner Bros. album Killer sold well, with the single "Halo of Flies" making the Top 10 in the Netherlands, but it was their next album School's Out (1972) that really put them on the map. The title song was a Top 10 hit in the US, reached No. 1 in the UK and became a radio staple, and the album went to No. 2 in the US and sold more than a million copies. Billion Dollar Babies (1973) became their biggest success, going to No. 1 in both the US and the UK. The follow-up Muscle of Love (1973) was less successful, although the single "Teenage Lament '74 was a Top 20 hit in the UK. Furnier split from the band in 1974 and signed to Warner Bros.' sister label, Atlantic as a solo artist, scoring further success with his solo albums and singles.
In 1973, Frank Zappa and manager Herb Cohen closed the Straight and Bizarre labels and established a new imprint, DiscReet Records, retaining their distribution deal with Warner Bros. Zappa's next album Apostrophe (') (1973) became the biggest commercial success of his career, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" was a minor hit and (at the time) his only single to make the Hot 100 chart. Zappa also enjoyed moderate commercial success with the live double album Roxy and Elsewhere (1974) and his next studio album One Size Fits All (1975), both of which reached the Top 30 on the Billboard album chart.
WBR introduced a new label design for its LPs and singles in mid-1973. This design, which WBR would use until mid-1978, featured a multi-colored, idealized watercolor painting of a Burbank street lined by palms and eucalypts, and titled with the slogan "Burbank, Home of Warner Bros. Records". According to the label's official history, the design was copied from a similarly styled "orange crate art" fruit company label illustration created by an unknown commercial artist in the 1920s.
After several years as a 'cult' artist, Randy Newman achieved his first significant commercial success as a solo artist with his 1974 album Good Old Boys which made the Top 40. His controversial 1977 single "Short People" was one of the surprise hits of the year, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 12, 1974, WBR and Phil Spector established Warner-Spector Records, but the label was short-lived and folded in 1977; most of its releases were reissues Philles Records recordings from the 1960s and the only new material released was two singles by the disco group Calhoon and a single by Cher.
In 1975 David Geffen was obliged to leave the company for health reasons, after being told that he had a terminal illness (although this later proved to be a false diagnosis). In his place, Joe Smith was promoted to become President of the combined Elektra/Asylum label. At this time Warner Bros. began to wind down the Reprise label. In 1976–77 almost all Reprise acts, including Fleetwood Mac, Gordon Lightfoot, Ry Cooder and Michael Franks were transferred to Warner Bros., leaving only Neil Young (who refused to move) and founder Frank Sinatra. Apart from these artists and some reissues, the Reprise label was dormant until it was reactivated in 1986 with the issue of the Dream Academy's single "The Love Parade" on Reprise 28750.
By far the most successful of the Reprise acts who moved to Warner Bros. was Fleetwood Mac, whose massive success firmly established Warner Bros. in the front rank of major labels—although few would have predicted it from the band's tumultuous history. Between 1970 and 1975 there were multiple lineup changes (with only two original members remaining by 1974), their album sales declined drastically, and a legal battle over the group's name kept them off the road for over a year. However, just as Fleetwood Mac was switching labels in 1975, the group re-invigorated by the recruitment of new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The 'new' Fleetwood Mac scored a string of US and international hits and their self-titled Reprise debut album was a huge success, reaching No. 1 in the US, charting for more than 30 weeks and selling more than 5 million copies. In 1977, their now-legendary Rumours took both group and Warner Bros. label to even greater heights—it generated a string of international hit singles and became the most successful album in the label's history; it is currently ranked the 11th biggest selling album of all time and as of 2009 was estimated to have sold more than 40 million copies.
After a string of albums with the Faces and as a solo artist for Mercury Records in the early 1970s, British singer Rod Stewart signed with Warner Bros. in 1974, applied for American citizenship and moved to the US. Launching a sustained run of success, his Warner debut album Atlantic Crossing (1975) was a major international hit, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard album chart and No. 1 in Australia, with the single "I Don't Want to Talk About It" going to No. 1 in the UK. His second WBR album A Night on the Town (1976) went to No. 2 in the US and No. 1 in Australia and produced three US Top 40 singles, including his first US No. 1 "Tonight's the Night". Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) reached No. 2 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and No. 1 in Australia and again produced three US Top 40 singles, including "You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)", which reached No. 4. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) went to No. 1 in the US and Australia, and produced two more Top 40 singles including his second US No. 1, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (although Stewart and co-writer Carmine Appice were later successfully sued for plagiarizing the song's catchy melody hook from "Taj Mahal" by Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben). Stewart's Greatest Hits collection (1979) went to No. 1 in the UK and Australia, giving the singer a record-breaking five consecutive No. 1 albums in the latter country.
Warner Bros. Records also had unexpected success in the mid-1970s with another 'heritage' act, veteran vocal group the Four Seasons. In early 1975, they signed with Curb Records (which was distributed by WBR) just as lead singer Frankie Valli scored a surprise hit with his independently released solo single "My Eyes Adored You". Soon after, Valli and The Four Seasons burst back onto the charts with the disco-styled "Who Loves You", which reached No. 3 in the US and sold more than a million copies, and the album Who Loves You sold more than 1 million copies. Their next single "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" topped the charts in both Britain and the US in early 1976, becoming the group's first US No. 1 since 1967. A remixed version was a hit again in 1994 and its total of 54 weeks in charts gives it the longest tenure of any song on the Billboard Hot 100.
By the time of the Doobie Brothers 1976 album Takin' It to the Streets, founding member Tom Johnston had effectively left the band and he was replaced by former Steely Dan session man Michael McDonald, whose distinctive voice helped to propel the group to even greater success. The new album sold strongly, reaching No. 8 in the US, and the title track reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a perennial on radio playlists. Warner Bros. also released the massively successful Best of the Doobies (1976), which has become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time and is currently accredited at 10× Platinum status. 1978's Minute by Minute marked the peak of their career—both the album and its lead single "What A Fool Believes" went to No. 1 in the US and the album's title track also made the US Top 20, although it was their last album with founding drummer John Hartman and long-serving guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.
During the late 1970s, Warner Bros.' reputation as an "artists first" label was challenged by a bitter and long-running dispute with Frank Zappa. In 1976, Zappa's relationship with manager Herb Cohen ended in litigation. For Zoot Allures, Zappa took his own copy of the master directly to Warner Bros. Records, who agreed to release the album, therefore bypassing Cohen and DiscReet. However, Warner Bros. changed their position following legal action from Cohen. Zappa was then obligated to deliver four more albums to Warner Bros. for release on DiscReet. Zappa sequenced a double live album and three studio albums, but Warner Bros. objected to some or all of these recordings and refused to reimburse Zappa for production costs, as required by the DiscReet distribution contract. Zappa then re-edited the material into a 4-LP set called Läther (pronounced 'leather'), made a deal with Phonogram, and scheduled the release of Läther for Halloween 1977. However, Warner Bros. threatened legal action, forcing Zappa to shelve the release. Infuriated, Zappa hosted a broadcast on KROQ-FM in Pasadena, California, where he played the entire Läther album in sequence, repeatedly criticizing Warner Bros., and openly encouraging listeners to record the broadcast. Warner Bros. took further legal action against Zappa, which prevented him from issuing any material for over a year. During 1978 and 1979, Warner Bros. issued the disputed material over four albums – Zappa in New York (an edited and censored version of the original 1977 live double album), Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites. Zappa eventually won the rights to his Straight, Bizarre, DiscReet and Warner Bros. material, but remained trenchantly critical of his treatment by Warner Bros. for the rest of his life. Zappa's recordings were subsequently reissued on CD by Rykodisc (ironically it was later acquired by Warner Music), including Läther, which appeared posthumously in 1996.
Ry Cooder was another Reprise act who was transferred to Warner Bros. in 1977. His first Warner release was the 1977 live album Showtime and he remained with the label until his contract expired in the late 1980s. His 1979 album Bop 'Til You Drop is notable as the first major-label rock album to be digitally recorded, and it became the best-selling album of his career.
Thanks to its distribution deal with Curb Records, WBR scored the biggest hit single in the company's history in 1977. The ballad "You Light Up My Life" (written and produced by Joe Brooks) was originally recorded by the late Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which actress Didi Conn lip-synched to Cisyk's recording. Teenager Debby Boone (daughter of actor-singer Pat Boone) was recruited to record a new version for the single release, and it became a massive success, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-setting 10 consecutive weeks and earning platinum certification from the RIAA. It became the most successful single of the 1970s in the United States, setting a new record for the longest run at No. 1 in the US and surpassing Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog". Boone's success also earned her Grammy nominations for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance " and "Record of the Year" and won her the 1977 Grammy for "Best New Artist" and the 1977 American Music Award for "Favorite Pop Single". The song also earned Joe Brooks the 1977 "Song of the Year" Grammy (tied with "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)") as well as "Best Original Song" at both the 1977 Golden Globe and Academy Awards.
Throughout the 1970s, Warner Bros. also benefited from its US/Canada distribution deals with independent labels such as Straight Records, DiscReet Records, UK labels Chrysalis (1972–1976) and Island (1974–1982), Bizarre Records, Bearsville Records (1970–1984) and Geffen Records (which was sold to MCA in 1990).
Although primarily associated with mainstream white acts in the Seventies, Warner Bros.' distribution deals with smaller labels also brought it some success in the disco, soul and funk genres in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among the imprints it distributed that were notable in these fields were Seymour Stein's Sire Records (which Warner Bros. soon purchased), Curtis Mayfield's Curtom, Norman Whitfield's Whitfield Records, Quincy Jones' Qwest, Prince's Paisley Park, RFC Records (formed in December 1978 when Ray Caviano became the executive director of Warner's disco division), and Tom Silverman's Tommy Boy Records (another label Warner Bros. eventually took over).
Until the late 1970s, Warner Bros. itself still had very few Black artists on its roster, but this began to change with the signing of artists such as George Benson and Prince. Benson had risen to prominence in jazz in the 1960s but was still relatively little-known by the general public. However, his move to Warner Bros. in 1976 and the teaming with producer Tommy LiPuma enabled him to straddle genres and made him a popular and highly successful mainstream R&B and pop artist. His first Warner Bros. album Breezin' (1976) became one of the most successful jazz albums of the decade and a major 'crossover' hit—it topped the American Pop, R&B and Jazz album charts and produced two hit singles, the title track (which became a Jazz standard and a radio favorite) and "This Masquerade", which was a Top 10 pop and R&B hit. Benson enjoyed enormous success with his subsequent Warner albums. All of his Warner albums made the Top 20 on the US jazz album chart and beginning with Breezin', he scored seven consecutive US No. 1 jazz albums; the first five of these were also Top 20 hits on both the Pop and R&B charts. His live version of Leiber & Stoller's "On Broadway" (from his 1978 live album Weekend in L.A.) outcharted the original version by the Drifters, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and gained further exposure thanks to its memorable use in the famous audition sequence in Bob Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz. Benson's most successful single "Give Me the Night" (1980) became his first US No. 1 R&B hit, reached No. 4 on the Pop chart and also reached No. 2 on the Hot Disco Singles chart.
Prince signed to Warner Bros. in 1977. His first album For You had little impact, although the single "Soft and Wet" reached No. 12 on the Billboard R&B chart. His second self-titled album (1979) fared considerably better, reaching No. 3 on the R&B album chart and earning a gold record award; the first single lifted from the album, "I Wanna Be Your Lover" became Prince's first crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 11 on the main pop chart, while the follow-up single "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" reached No. 13 on the R&B chart. Although he was still little known outside the US at this stage, this early success set the stage for his major commercial breakthrough in the 1980s.
Another valuable late 1970s discovery was metal-pop band Van Halen, who were spotted at a Hollywood club by Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman in 1977. Their self-titled debut album was a notable success, reaching No. 19 on the Billboard album chart, and their second album Van Halen II (1979) reached No. 6 and produced their first hit single "Dance the Night Away" (#19).
Warner Bros. also began to tentatively embrace the burgeoning new wave movement in the late 1970s, signing cult bands Devo and the B-52s. A crucial acquisition in this field—and one which would soon prove to be of enormous importance to the company—was the New York-based Sire Records, founded in 1966 by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. Warner Bros. took over Sire's distribution from ABC Records in 1977 and bought the label in 1978, retaining Stein as its president. The addition of the Sire roster gave Warner Bros. an important foothold in this area; Stein is often credited with naming the genre to replace the term "punk", which he disliked.Sire's American signings included the Ramones, the Dead Boys, and Talking Heads and most importantly of all, Madonna, who soon became the most successful female artist in music history, earning billions for Warner. Sire's distribution deals with British independent labels including Mute, Rough Trade, Korova and Fiction gave WEA the American rights to important UK-based New Wave bands including Depeche Mode, the Smiths, the Beat, Madness, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Cure. Into the 1990s, the label had continued success with Seal, k.d. lang, Tommy Page, Ice-T, and Ministry.
In the late 1970s, Warner Bros. also scored mainstream pop hits with singer/actor Shaun Cassidy—his version of "Da Doo Ron Ron" went to No. 1 in the US in 1977, his next two singles (both penned by Eric Carmen) were US Top 10 hits and Cassidy was nominated for a Grammy award. As the decade drew to a close, there were more breakthroughs with new acts. Rickie Lee Jones' self-titled debut album went to No. 3 in the US, No. 1 in Australia and No. 18 in the UK and produced two hit singles, "Chuck E.'s In Love" (US #4) and "Young Blood" (US #40). Thanks to its American distribution deal with Vertigo, British group Dire Straits provided another sustained run of hit albums and singles in the late 1970s and 1980s. Their eponymous debut album (1978) was a surprise international hit, going to No. 2 in the US and earning a gold record award from the RIAA, while the single "Sultans of Swing" went to No. 4 in the US. Their second album Communiqué (1979) made the Top 20 in many countries and earned another gold record award in the US WBR also enjoyed renewed success with comedy recordings in this period, transferring Richard Pryor from Reprise and signing rising star Steve Martin, whose second Warner album A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978) became one of the label's biggest comedy hits—it reached No. 2 on the pop album chart, won the 1979 Grammy for 'Best Comedy Album', and Martin's novelty single, "King Tut" was a US Top 20 hit.
In the 1970s there were different systems for four-channel stereo. Warner Records and the whole WEA group chose JVC's and RCA's discrete system called CD-4 or Quadradisc. That was the system with the highest separation between the four channel, but the system needed a special stylus that could read frequences up to 48 000 Hz.
=== 1980–1988 ===
The 1980s was a period of unprecedented success for Warner Bros. Records. The golden decade began with the success of singer-songwriter Christopher Cross, whose self-titled debut album went to No. 6 in the US and produced four charting singles, including the No. 1 hit "Sailing". He also won five major categories at the 1981 Grammy Awards, becoming the only solo artist to date to win the "Big Four" awards in one year (Record, Song and Album of the Year, and Best New Artist) while his performance of "Arthur's Theme" from the Dudley Moore film Arthur, which also went to No. 1, won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song.
Warner Bros. scored an apparent coup in 1980 by luring Paul Simon away from Columbia Records. His first Warner album was One Trick Pony (1980), which accompanied the movie of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. The single "Late in the Evening" was a major hit (#6) but the album was not a big seller. His next album, Hearts and Bones (1983) was well received by critics but neither it nor the lead single "Allergies" made the chart and Simon's career took a nosedive and it was several more years before the label's patience eventually paid off.
After two moderate-selling albums that established them as one of the most original American new wave bands of the period, DEVO broke through to mainstream success in 1980 with their third album Freedom of Choice which reached No. 22 in the US. Thanks to its quirky music video, which was put on high rotation on MTV, the single "Whip It" reached No. 14 on the Billboard pop chart, becoming the group's biggest American hit. Their follow-up EP DEV-O Live (1981) was a surprise hit in Australia, topping the singles chart there for three weeks, but their subsequent albums and singles suffered from declining sales and the group was eventually dropped by the label after their 1984 album Shout.
Prince's 1980 album Dirty Mind was widely praised by critics, earning a gold record award, but his 1982 double-LP 1999 (1982) became his first major hit album, selling over six million copies and spawning three hit singles. The title track reached No. 12 in the US and provided his first international hit (#25 UK) and his next two singles, "Little Red Corvette" and "Delirious", were both US Top 10 hits.
Chicago was picked up by Warner Bros. in 1981 after being dropped by its former label Columbia, which believed that the band was no longer commercially viable. After teaming with producer David Foster, the band shot back into the charts in 1982 with the album Chicago 16, which reached No. 9 and produced two hit singles including the US No. 1 hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry". The group's second Warner album, Chicago 17, became the biggest seller of its career—it reached No. 4 in the US and produced four US Top-20 singles including the Top-5 hits "Hard Habit to Break" (#3) and "You're the Inspiration" (#3) and is currently accredited at 6× Platinum. Lead singer Peter Cetera left the group after this album but had continued success as a solo artist for Warner, scoring a No. 1 hit in 1986 with "Glory of Love" (from the movie The Karate Kid Part II), which was also nominated for a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. His second solo album sold more than a million copies and produced another No. 1 hit, "The Next Time I Fall". His third solo album produced the Top 5 hit "One Good Woman" (1988) and "After All" reached No. 6.
Lenny Waronker took over as President of WBR in 1982, and his first act was to sign Elvis Costello. Costello's first Warner album Spike featured his biggest American single, the Paul McCartney collaboration "Veronica", which was a US Top 20 hit. He recorded three more critically praised albums for Warner Bros., Mighty Like A Rose, Brutal Youth, and All This Useless Beauty, but he was dropped from the label after the major corporate shakeup in the mid-1990s.
After the end of his contract with RSO Records and Polydor, Eric Clapton signed with Warner Bros. in 1982. His first WBR album, Money and Cigarettes (1983), reached No. 16 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "I've Got a Rock 'n' Roll Heart" reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next album Behind the Sun also fared well, reaching No. 34 and the hit single "Forever Man" went to No. 26, but he transferred to Reprise for his next release.
Another resurgent 1970s act who scored major success with Warner Bros. in this period was ZZ Top, which had previously been signed to London Records. During an extended break in the late 1970s the group gained ownership of its London recordings and signed with Warner Bros., which also re-issued the band's back-catalogue. The group's first two Warner albums Deguello (1979) and El Loco (1981) were moderately successful, but Eliminator (1983) became a major hit thanks to strong support for its music videos on MTV. The band scored three US hit singles including "Legs" (US #8), while the album reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and sold in huge numbers, earning a Diamond record award in 1996. Afterburner (ZZ Top album) (1985) went to No. 4 and produced five hit singles, including "Sleeping Bag" (#8).
Sire artist Madonna shot to international prominence with her 1983 self-titled debut album and her first mainstream hit single "Holiday", which reached No. 16 in the US and became a hit in many other countries, including Australia and the UK, where it was Top 5. The album made the Top 20 in more than a dozen countries including the US, where it has been certified at 5× Platinum status. It was quickly followed by Like a Virgin, which became her first US No. 1 album and has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. The title track was also a huge international hit, going to No. 1 in Australia, Canada, Japan and the US. Boosted by her well-received role in the film Desperately Seeking Susan, "Crazy For You" (1985) became her second US No. 1 hit, and the follow-up "Material Girl" reached No. 2 in the US and was Top 5 in many other countries.
Prince's hugely successful 1984 film and album Purple Rain cemented his stardom, selling more than thirteen million copies in the US (25 million worldwide) and spending twenty-four consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, while the Purple Rain film won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song Score" and grossed more than $80 million in the US. Singles from the album became hits on pop charts around the world; "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" both reached No. 1 and the title track reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the sexually explicit album track "Darling Nikki" generated a major controversy that had lasting effects—when politician's wife Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter listening to the song and investigated the lyrics, her outrage led to the formation of the conservative lobby group Parents Music Resource Center. Their stance was vehemently opposed by former Warner Bros. artist Frank Zappa and others, but the PMRC's political clout eventually forced the US recording industry to adopt the compulsory practice of placing a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker on records deemed to contain "offensive" content.
1984 also saw Van Halen break into the big league with the single "Jump" (their only US No. 1 hit) and the album 1984; it was a huge seller (earning Diamond album status in 1999) and reached No. 2 in the US, producing two more Top 20 hits. However, escalating friction between guitarist Eddie Van Halen and lead singer David Lee Roth reached breaking point soon after the album's release and Roth left the band, to be replaced by Sammy Hagar, who recorded for WB as part of Montrose; 1984 was also the last time they worked with Ted Templeman, who had produced all their albums up to this point.
In 1985, Dire Straits' single "Money for Nothing" gained massive exposure on MTV thanks to its innovative computer-animated music video, propelling the single to No. 1 in the US. They scored two more US Top 20 hits with "Walk of Life" and "So Far Away" and the album Brothers in Arms was a phenomenal success—it went to No. 1 in the US, Australia and most European countries and sold in colossal numbers—by 1996 it had been certified at 9× platinum in the US and it is currently ranked at No. 25 in the list of best-selling albums of all time, with sales of more than 30 million copies worldwide.
The new incarnation of Van Halen bounced back in 1986, releasing the enormously successful 5150 album which went to No. 1 and produced two hit singles, "Why Can't This Be Love" (US #3) and "Dreams" (#22). Their three subsequent studio albums (OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance) all reached No. 1 and the band scored 17 US Top 20 singles, including 1988's "When It's Love" (US #5), but their overall sales gradually declined, with each album selling less than its predecessor.
The same was true of Prince; he scored numerous hit albums and singles through the latter half of the 1980s, but his record sales declined and Warner Bros. executives became increasingly concerned that he was producing far more material than they could release. His image was also tarnished by the failure of his later film ventures, his embarrassing refusal to participate in the recording of "We Are The World" and his sacking of guitarist Wendy Melvoin and long-serving keyboard player Lisa Coleman. The 1985 album Around the World in a Day held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks and peaked at No. 5 in the UK, selling seven million copies despite minimal promotion. Parade (1986) served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film Under the Cherry Moon; although the movie was a critical and commercial failure, the album peaked at No. 3 in Billboard and No. 2 on the R&B album charts and his classic single "Kiss" was another big international hit, going to No. 1 in the US and becoming a radio staple.
Prince's next project had a long and complex evolution, beginning as a proposed concept double-album called Dream Factory; Prince then proposed a solo album which he intended to issue under the pseudonym Camille, but he eventually combined elements from both to create the ambitious three-album set Crystal Ball. However, because of the relatively lower sales of his previous albums, Prince's manager Steve Fargnoli and Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin both doubted the commercial viability of releasing a 3-LP set, and after previewing Crystal Ball, Ostin insisted that Prince pare it down to two records. Prince at first refused and a battle of wills ensued for several weeks, but he eventually backed down and removed seven tracks; the resulting double-album was released in March 1987 as Sign o' the Times. Despite Prince's bitterness over its forced reduction, it was very successful, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and selling 5 million copies, while the title single "Sign o' the Times" reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single "If I Was Your Girlfriend" flopped (although it went to No. 12 on R&B chart) but he scored big hits with the next two singles, "U Got the Look" (#2 Hot 100, #11 R&B) and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (#10 Hot 100, #14 R&B).
In 1985, the company collaborated with View-Master to start out a children's video series Kidsongs, which were produced by Together Again Productions, and Warner Music Video handling distribution of the video product, designed for the educational market.
1986–87 took Warner Bros. to even greater heights. Madonna's 1986 album True Blue produced three US number one hits and two top five singles, and the album topped the charts in more than 28 countries (a feat that earned her a place in the Guinness Book of Records); the album has sold over 25 million copies to date. After several years of career stagnation, Paul Simon burst back onto the music scene in late 1986 with Graceland. Warner Bros. were initially anxious about the commercial appeal of Simon's innovative fusion of rock with African styles but the album was a resounding success, topping the charts in many countries, reaching No. 3 in the US and producing two US Top 20 singles. It became the best-selling American album of 1987 and the most successful of Simon's solo career, selling more than 5 million copies, and winning the 1986 Grammy for 'Album of the Year'; the title track also won 'Song of the Year' in 1987. In jazz, Warner Bros. scored another artistic coup by signing jazz legend Miles Davis after his break with longtime label Columbia. His comeback album Tutu (1986) was a major crossover hit, gaining rave reviews and winning a Grammy in 1987. Also in 1986, smooth jazz pioneer Bob James moved to the label after a nine-year stint with Tappan Zee Records/Columbia, producing albums for Warner Bros. for the next sixteen years. The label would additionally reissue some of his back catalogue on CTI and Tappan Zee/Columbia in the mid-1990s.
In the summer of 1986, Warner Bros. announced the reactivation of Reprise Records with its own separate promotions department, and former Warner Bros. Vice President of Promotion Richard Fitzgerald was appointed as label Vice President.
During 1987, Prince recorded a pared-down funk album, The Black Album, but he withdrew it in December just before it was to be released (even though 500,000 copies had been printed). Its hastily recorded replacement Lovesexy (1988) was a moderate success, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard album chart although it reached No. 1 in the UK. However, he rebounded in 1989 with the soundtrack for the hugely successful Batman film, which sold more than eleven million copies, reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and produced four hit singles including "Batdance", which topped both the Hot 100 and R&B charts.
Like fellow Athens, Georgia natives the B-52s, R.E.M. was a 'cult' band that gradually built up a strong following in the US and internationally during the 1980s (thanks in part to their innovative music videos). For most of the 1980s they were signed to the independent label IRS Records and in 1987, they broke out to mainstream success with the album Document, their first to sell more than one million copies. However, they were frustrated by IRS's poor international distribution and when their IRS contract expired in 1988 they signed with Warner Bros. Their Warner debut Green established them as a major force, earning a platinum album and selling more than 4 million copies worldwide, and "Stand" became their first US hit single.
In 1989, after an extended period of inactivity following the death of guitarist and main writer Ricky Wilson, the B-52s shot back to prominence with the album Cosmic Thing. It was a Top 5 hit in the US (#4) and the UK (#2) and went to No. 1 in Australia, where the group had enjoyed a strong following since their debut single "Rock Lobster"; they also scored three consecutive hit singles with "Love Shack" (#3 US, #1 Australia), "Roam" (US #3) and "Deadbeat Club" (US #30).
In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi, and debuted her new single "Like a Prayer" in a commercial titled "Make a Wish"—the first time a pop single had debuted in an advertisement and the first time such a commercial was given a worldwide satellite premiere. The actual music video for "Like a Prayer" premiered on MTV the following day; it generated heated criticism due to its provocative use of religious imagery and was condemned by the Vatican. As a result, Pepsi withdrew the advertisement and canceled the endorsement deal, although Madonna was allowed to retain her US$5 million advance. The controversy also introduced heightened interest in the single and the album (also titled Like a Prayer). The single became Madonna's seventh US number one hit, as well as topping the chart in more than 30 other countries, and the album has sold fifteen million copies worldwide.
=== 1989–2004: The Time Warner era ===
In 1989 Time Inc. acquired Warner Communications and merged the two enterprises to create Time Warner in a deal valued at US$14 billion.
After a long period of relative stability that was notable in the cutthroat American music industry, the death of Steve Ross in late 1992 marked the start of a period of major upheaval at Warner Bros. Records.
R.E.M.'s second Warner album Out of Time (1991) consolidated their success, topping the charts in both the US and the UK and producing two major hit singles: "Losing My Religion" became their biggest American single (#4 on Billboard Hot 100) and a hit in numerous other countries, and "Shiny Happy People", a Top 10 hit in both the US and the UK; the group also won three categories at that year's Grammy Awards.
Prince's fortunes in the Nineties were mixed; he scored more hits and renewed his contract in 1992, but his relationship with Warner Bros. Records soon soured, climaxing in a highly publicized legal battle and his eventual departure from the label. Although his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge was panned by critics and bombed at the box office the album of the same name was very successful—it reached No. 6 on both the Billboard Hot 200 and R&B album chart and produced two US Top 20 singles. Diamonds and Pearls (1991) became one of the biggest albums of his career, selling 9 million records, reaching No. 3 in the US, No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in Australia, with five of the six singles lifted from the album becoming hits in the US and other countries, including "Cream", which became his fifth US No. 1.
Prince was appointed a vice-president of Warner Bros. Records when he re-signed with them in 1992, but soon regretted his decision. His next album—identified by the cryptic symbol on the cover later defined as "The Love Symbol"—was another solid hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and selling 5 million copies worldwide, but by now tensions were increasing. Warner Bros. wanted to release "7" as his next single, but Prince successfully pushed for "My Name Is Prince" and it was only a minor hit (#36 Hot 100, #23 R&B); the follow-up "Sexy MF" was censored in the US because of the expletive in the chorus and did not even make the US Top 50 although it was a Top 5 hit in the UK and Australia. When eventually released, "7" became the only major US hit lifted from the album, peaking (appropriately) at No. 7.
Following the 3-disc compilation The Hits/The B-Sides (1993), Prince stopped using his first name and started using only the "Love Symbol"—a decision that drew considerable ridicule from the media. Because this sign has no verbal equivalent, he was often derisively referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince". By 1994, relations between The Artist and his record label had reached an impasse—in February WEA cancelled its distribution deal with Paisley Park, effectively putting the label out of business. Although released by an independent distributor, his next single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (1994) reached No. 3 in the US and topped the singles charts throughout Europe, becoming the biggest hit single of his career.
Prince had meanwhile prepared two new albums, Come and The Gold Experience; an early version of Come was rejected but Warner Bros. eventually accepted both albums, although they refused to issue them simultaneously. By this time Prince had launched a legal action to terminate his contract and gain ownership of his master recordings, and he publicized his views by appearing in public with the word "SLAVE" written across his right cheek. Come (1994) was moderately successful in the US (#15, gold record) and the single "Letitgo" reached No. 10 on the R&B chart, although the album was a major hit in the UK, debuting at No. 1. In November Warner released a limited edition of The Black Album, but it was already widely bootlegged, sold poorly and was soon deleted. The Gold Experience (1995) was hailed by some reviewers as Prince's best effort since Sign o' the Times; it included "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and produced two other charting singles, "I Hate U" (US #11 and "Gold" UK #10). Prince's remarkable career with Warner Bros. ended with Chaos and Disorder (1996), compiled expressly to end his contract. It was one of his least successful releases but still managed to reach No. 26 in the US and No. 14 in the UK and produced one minor hit, "Dinner With Delores" (#36 UK). Prince subsequently released recordings on his own NPG label (via EMI) before eventually signing with Universal Music in 2005.
R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People (1992) cemented their status as one of the top bands of the period and was the most successful album of their career, reaching No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and generating three US hit singles, "Drive", "Man on the Moon", and "Everybody Hurts".
During 1992 WBR faced one of the most serious controversies in its history over the provocative recording "Cop Killer" from the self titled album by Body Count, a rap metal band led by Ice-T. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the song (which mentions the Rodney King case) came out just before the controversial acquittal of the police charged with King's beating, which sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the confluence of events put the song under the national spotlight. Complaints escalated over the summer—conservative police associations called for a boycott of Time Warner products, politicians including President George H. W. Bush denounced the label for releasing the song, Warner executives received death threats, Time Warner stockholders threatened to pull out of the company and the New Zealand police commissioner unsuccessfully tried to have the record banned there. Although Ice-T later voluntarily reissued Body Count without "Cop Killer", the furore seriously rattled Warner Music and in January 1993 WBR made an undisclosed deal releasing Ice-T from his contract and returning the Body Count master tapes to him. In the wake of the "Cop Killer" affair, Warner Bros. distanced itself from gangsta rap and in late 1995, it sold its 50% stake in Interscope Records and its controversial subsidiary Death Row Records (Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg) back to co-owners Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field. Iovine and Field quickly aligned Interscope with the Universal Music Group; the label, now known as Interscope-Geffen-A&M following the merger of several Universal imprints, is still run by Iovine today.
Some relief came later that year when comedian Jeff Foxworthy revived Warner Bros.' success with comedy recordings; his debut album You Might Be a Redneck If... was a major hit in the US and Canada, and both it and his follow-up album sold more than three million copies each.
=== End of an era: Ostin and Waronker depart ===
During 1994–1995, Warner Bros.'s successes and problems with its artists were overshadowed by a protracted period of highly publicized internecine strife, centering on Warner Music Group chairman Robert J. Morgado and his successor Michael J. Fuchs. In September 1993, Ostin began negotiations to renew his contract and it was at this point that Morgado unveiled his plan for a major corporate shakeup of the Warner group. This triggered a series of damaging corporate conflicts and in particular created a fatal rift between Morgado and Ostin. The first major casualty was Elektra chairman Bob Krasnow, who resigned abruptly in July 1994.
For many years Ostin had reported directly to Time Warner chairman Steve Ross (and then to Ross's successor Gerald Levin) but Morgado now insisted that Ostin should report to him, and he established a new division, Warner Music US, headed by Doug Morris, to oversee the three main record labels. Fearing the loss of autonomy and worried that he would be obliged to implement Morgado's "slash-and-burn" policy to streamline the label's staff and artist roster, he refused to carry out Morgado's orders and decided not to renew his contract. Ostin officially stepped down from Warner Bros. when his contract expired on December 31, 1994, although he stayed on as a senior consultant to Time Warner's chairman until August 1995. He later commented:
This business is about freedom and creative control. An executive has to be able to make risky decisions with minimal corporate interference. But Warner is a different company now than the company I was brought up in. And in the end, I found it impossible to operate in that kind of environment.
Ostin's departure sent shockwaves through the company and the industry, and elicited glowing tributes from colleagues and competitors like Joe Smith and Clive Davis, and musicians like Paul Simon and R.E.M. It also triggered an exodus of Warner executives who had joined the company primarily because of Ostin. Next to go was Lenny Waronker—he was designated to succeed Ostin as chairman but ultimately declined the job and left WBR soon after. Following a period of uncertainty and speculation, the two joined forces to establish a new label, DreamWorks Records. Waronker was replaced by ex–Atlantic Records president Danny Goldberg, but his tenure proved short. Long-serving WBR executive Russ Thyret, who had joined the label in 1971 and worked closely with Mo Ostin for many years, was promoted to vice-chairman in January 1995.
Gerald Levin forced Morgado to resign in May 1995 and he was replaced by HBO chairman Michael J. Fuchs. Fuchs sacked Morris a month later (sparking a US$50m breach of contract suit) and Warner Music US was dissolved. Morris' removal led to speculation that Ostin was being courted to return to WBR, but these reports proved unfounded since Ostin and Waronker moved to DreamWorks soon after. Morris moved to MCA Records.
Despite his close ties to Morris, Danny Goldberg was initially told he could remain as WBR president but he left the company in August 1995 after negotiating a settlement with Time Warner to terminate his five-year, US$20 million contract, which still had four years to run. He was subsequently appointed president of PolyGram subsidiary Mercury Records in October. Following Goldberg's departure Russ Thyret was promoted to chairman, CEO and label president. Fuchs himself was forced out of Time Warner in November 1995. In May 1997, Phil Quartararo took over as president of WBR, only weeks after he had left EMI's Virgin Records following a management shake-up there.
The departure of the team led by Ostin and Waronker also meant that many of the Warner artists whose careers they had nurtured and curated over the previous 30 years were now deprived of their patronage. As a result, by 2000 many of the "flagship" Warner acts of the Ostin/Waronker years left the label as their contracts expired. Ry Cooder was dropped in 1995 and Randy Newman followed Ostin and Waronker to DreamWorks, departing with a wry comment on his own status and the recent turmoil at Warner Bros.:
"I've sent Warner an amusing letter of resignation, and I haven't heard anything. It's like trying to find a general to surrender to. I think I'm gone, you know? And I signed with DreamWorks and I haven't heard from them! The people I'm leaving don't give a shit that I'm leaving and the people I'm going to don't give a shit that I'm coming!
Although never rising beyond "cult" status in terms of his sales as a solo artist, one of the most notable survivors from the Ostin era was Van Dyke Parks, who continued to release albums on Warner Bros. – Tokyo Rose (1989), the Brian Wilson collaboration Orange Crate Art (1995) and the live album Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove (1998). In 2004 Parks reunited with Brian Wilson to complete their long-shelved collaboration, Smile, which was released on the Nonesuch label to universal critical praise, winning a Grammy award, and making the Top 20 in the US and Top 10 in the UK, where it earned a gold record award.
In early 2001, there was a major restructure of the Warner Music Group; about 600 positions were eliminated across the three labels, and an executive reshuffle led to the departures of Thyret and Quartararo (as well as Reprise president Howie Klein) and the hiring of then-Interscope president Tom Whalley as head of Warner Bros. Records. In August Whalley appointed Jeff Ayeroff as Creative Director of Warner Bros. Records and Creative Consultant to Warner Music Group. Ayeroff had previously been WBR's Senior Vice-president and Creative Director from 1983 to 1986, overseeing many successful album covers and music videos in that period.
In 2002, Linkin Park won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for their single "Crawling". They were also nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album for Hybrid Theory, which was the best-selling album of 2001 worldwide. In 2004, the band was nominated for their song "Session" for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In 2006 the band won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for the song "Numb/Encore" released under Warner Bros./Roc-A-Fella/Machine Shop.
=== 2004–2009: Warner Music Group ===
In 2003, amid management disputes, sagging share prices and rising alarm about the impact of digital file sharing, Time Warner decided to unload its music operations. In March 2004, Time Warner's music assets were acquired by a private equity group headed by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Lexa Partners (led by Edgar Bronfman Jr., who put up US$150 million drawn from his family's stake in Vivendi), Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners. The deal included an option that would allow Time Warner to buy back in if conditions proved favorable. Bronfman, Lee, Bain and Providence had reportedly recouped their investment by May 2006 through dividends, refinancing and a share offer floated in May 2005.
The sale was followed by a major restructure over the first half of 2004, which had aimed at slashing $27 million from the company's budget. The cost-cutting measures included more than 1000 staff layoffs worldwide, the dropping of 80 artists, comprising more than half the Warner roster, and the restructuring of the company's two "boutique" labels. Elektra was folded into Atlantic, and its sub-label Nonesuch was absorbed into the Warner Records label, although Elektra would be revived as an active label five years later. The restructure period was also marked by a short but widely publicised dispute between Warner and Madonna—although, notably, the label made public efforts to distance the dispute from their regular dealings with Madonna, who remained signed to Warner as a solo artist.
Following the private buyout of the music group, Madonna began talks with Warner management to dissolve the joint venture partnership in Madonna's Maverick label. Founded in 1992, Maverick had scored a major success in 1995 with Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, and Madonna and her two partners, Guy Oseary and Ronnie Dashed, jointly held a controlling 60% stake. After the talks broke down, the trio sued the company; they alleged mismanagement, improper accounting and profit-taking, claiming that Maverick had earned $100m in profit for the group, and seeking to recover $200 million in alleged lost revenue, but the suit was settled in June that year, with Madonna selling most of her stake in Maverick to Warner for just $10 million.
In 2005, following the global restructure, Warner Music Australia scored a major coup when it acquired the assets of the Australian Festival Mushroom Group. That company had originated as Festival Records in Sydney in the 1952, and after its acquisition by Rupert Murdoch in 1961, Festival became one of the leading Australian record companies, recording and/or releasing much of the most significant Australian pop and rock music of the era on its flagship Festival label or via its subsidiary imprints. Festival also signed valuable licensing and distribution deals with major local independent pop labels such as Spin (NSW) and Clarion (WA), and it subsequently took over many of these labels and acquired their masters, greatly increasing its holdings of key Australian pop/rock recordings.
In the 1970s Festival signed a distribution deal with the fledgling Melbourne label Mushroom Records, founded by Michael Gudinski. Mushroom scored a key breakthrough in 1974–75 with Melbourne band Skyhooks, whose debut album Living in the Seventies became the highest-selling Australian album ever issued up to that time. Mushroom enjoyed enormous success in Australia from the late 1970s on, and although Gudinski later moved the label's distribution to EMI for some years, the two companies were eventually merged—Festival acquired 49% of Mushroom in 1993 and bought the remainder when Gudinski sold his controlling share in 1998. Finally, in 2005, after multiple management reshuffles and a steady decline in revenue, News Ltd sold the group and its recording archive (said to contain over 20,000 master tapes) to Warner Music Australia for a reported AU$10 million.
Following the divestiture, WMG licensed the Warner Bros. trademarks, although this license could have been revoked if WMG came under control of a major motion picture studio.
After five years of dormancy, Elektra was revived as an active imprint in June 2009. In mid-2018, Elektra was detached from the Atlantic Records umbrella and reorganized into Elektra Music Group, once again operating as an independently managed frontline label of Warner Music.
=== 2010–present: Warner Records ===
In 2010, a corporate shakeup and a 16% drop in third-quarter revenue resulted in Whalley's departure from the label. Producer Rob Cavallo, previously WMG’s chief creative officer, was appointed chairman of the Warner Bros. Records label group. Todd Moscowitz and Livia Tortella were named co-presidents, with Moscowitz serving as CEO and Tortella COO. The "trifecta" of Cavallo, Tortella and Moscowitz was expected to stabilize the label group; instead, as Warner continued to rely on rock, hip-hop grew in popularity and Warner's revenue decreased. In December 2012, Moscowitz resigned, and Cameron Stang, the chairman and CEO of Warner/Chappell and a member of the WMG board of directors, was named chairman and CEO of the label group. Tortella left six months later. Stang resigned in 2016, following a "tumultuous tenure." Dan McCarroll, named president in 2013, left in 2017. Although Warner artists had ten Top 10 albums, the label's performance was uneven. A bump in market share was attributed to the increased sales of albums by Prince and Bowie following their deaths in 2016.
In October 2017, Aaron Bay-Schuck and Tom Corson were named co-chairmen of Warner Bros. Records, with Bay-Schuck serving as CEO and Corson COO. Corson joined the company in January 2018; Bay-Schuck began in the fall of that year.
The Warner Bros. headquarters moved from Burbank to downtown Los Angeles in March 2019. On May 28, the label announced it had changed its name to Warner Records, and unveiled a new logo—replacing the Warner Bros. shield with a wordmark and black circle (both partially cut off at the bottom). WMG explained that the new logo was meant to resemble the Earth, a record, and the Sun, and had "artful simplicity and impactful typography that are ideally suited to the digital world". The change was necessitated by the upcoming expiration of WMG's license to the Warner Bros. trademarks; after the sale of Warner Music Group in 2004 by Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery since 2022), the company had been granted a 15-year license to use the Warner Bros. name and shield logo. The new logo received mixed reviews, with marketing critics and former WMG employees lamenting the replacement of the historic Warner Bros. emblem (used by the label for 61 years) with a comparatively simplistic mark. The record label's ISRC code remained "WB1".
In 2018 and 2019, Warner increased its focus on catalog, releasing boxed sets to commemorate the anniversaries of albums including Green Day's Nimrod and Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory in addition to working with the estates of Mac Miller and Ramones to plan further catalog albums. NLE Choppa launched a label in partnership with Warner in 2019; his 2020 album, Top Shotta, went platinum in the US and Canada. New records by Omar Apollo, Gorillaz and Red Hot Chili Peppers were successful, and Dua Lipa's 2020 album Future Nostalgia was the 69th best-selling record in the US, and the tenth best-seller worldwide and the ninth best-seller in the US and the 6th worldwide in 2021. With growing pressure to increase market share, the success of Future Nostalgia "bought more time" for Bay-Schuck and Corson to retool the artist roster.
In 2021, Warner signed Zach Bryan and Benson Boone, among other artists. Teddy Swims, signed in 2019, had a six-times platinum single in 2023 for Lose Control. With new singer Emily Armstrong, Linkin Park had its biggest hit in 15 years, and the international music industry trade IFPI named Boone's "viral as fuck" "Beautiful Things" the year's biggest single worldwide. In October 2023, Bryan's American Heartbreak, his Warner debut, hit platinum sales, and nine singles from the album were certified gold and platinum. In February of the following year, two more albums and 16 singles hit gold and platinum status. In an interview with Billboard, Bay-Schuck said that Bryan was representative of the label's legacy: "No one was telling Prince what to do, no one was telling Madonna what to do. You give them advice, you challenge them, you insert your opinions where you can. But ultimately, those artists thrived because the label understood how to let them grow and mature and take swings on their own." In 2024, Warner Records was third in market share, the label's highest ranking since 2018.
== Affiliated labels ==
=== Current ===
A&E Records (formerly Mushroom Records UK) (2003–present)
Arkade Records (2016–present)
Artery Recordings (2017–present)
Beluga Heights (2008–present)
Cage Riot
Clover Music (2018–present)
Curb Records (1974–1982, 2000–present)
Defiant Records (2023–present)
Facultad de Némea (2017–present)
Festival Mushroom Records (2005–present)
Helium 3 (2006–present)
Hotwire Unlimited (2010–present)
Loveway Records (2009–present)
Machine Shop Records (2001–present)
Masked Records (2018–present)
Mind of a Genius (2016–present)
Nonesuch Records (2004–present)
Parlophone (2014–present)
REMember Music (2014–present)
Reprise Records (1963–present)
Sire Records (1978–1995, 2003–present)
Tha Lights Global
The Benton Music Records (2018–present)
Word Records (2002–present)
=== Former ===
1017 Brick Squad Records
143 Records
4AD Records (1992–1998) (US only)
Action Theory Records
American Recordings (1988–1997 [US], 2005–2007 [worldwide])
Autumn Records (1963–1965)
Bearsville Records (1970–1984)
BME Recordings
Blacksmith Records (2005–2008)
Brute/Beaute Records (2004–2007)
Capricorn Records (1972–1977), (1990–1995)
Chrysalis Records (1972–1976) (US only)
Cold Chillin' Records (1987–1994)
Dark Horse Records (1976–1992)
Doghouse Records
ECM Records (?–1984)
Eternal Records (1980s–2000s)
Extasy International Records (2000–2004)
Full Moon Records (1974–1992)
F-111 Records (1995–2001)
Geffen Records (1980–1990)
Giant Records and its subsidiaries the Medicine Label (1993–1995), Paladin, Revolution (1990–2001; catalog is owned by Warner Records today)
Ice Age Entertainment
Island Records (1977–1982, except for Steve Winwood releases until 1987)
Jet Life Recordings
Kwanza Records (1973–1974)
Loma Records (1964–1968 and one boutique release in 2003)
London Records (2000–2017; small part of catalog was secured by WMG after sold to Because Music, including New Order)
Luaka Bop Records (1988–2000)
Malpaso Records (1995–2000)
Maverick Records (1992–2008; dormant)
Maybach Music Group (2011–2012)
Metal Blade Records (1988–1993)
Music for Little People (1990–1995)
Opal Records (1987–1993)
OVO Sound (2012–2022)
Paisley Park Records (1985–1994)
Perezcious Music
Playmaker Music
Premeditated Records (middle 1990s)
Public Broadcasting Service
Qwest Records (1980–2000)
Raybaw Records (2005–2008)
RuffNation Records
Slash Records (1982–1998; 2003–present)
Teleprompt Records
Tommy Boy Records (1985–2002; rights to pre-2002 catalog transferred to Atlantic Records and reacquired by a "new" Tommy Boy (Tommy Boy Entertainment) in 2017, being distributed by ADA subsidiary of WMG.)
Valiant Records (1960–1966)
Warner Alliance (1986–1998)
Warner Western (198?–200?)
Funk Volume (2015–2016)
== Artists == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Christopher_Plummer | List of awards and nominations received by Christopher Plummer | The following is a list of awards and nominations received by Christopher Plummer.
Christopher Plummer was a Canadian actor known for his diverse roles on stage and screen. Plummer is one of the few actors to have earned the Triple Crown of Acting, having won the Academy Award, Emmy Award and Tony Award. Other awards Plummer has received include a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Plummer was just a Grammy Award away from achieving the EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), which is considered the "grand slam" of American show business.
Plummer won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 82 for playing an elderly gay man in Mike Mills' comedy drama Beginners (2010), becoming the oldest person to win an acting award (a distinction he held until being supplanted by 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins in 2021). He was Oscar-nominated for playing Leo Tolstoy in the drama The Last Station (2009) and J. Paul Getty in the crime thriller All the Money in the World (2017), the later making him the oldest person to be nominated in an acting category at the age of 88.
For his work on the Broadway stage he won two Tony Awards, his first for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Cyrano de Bergerac in the musical Cyrano (1974) and Best Actor in a Play for playing John Barrymore in the play Barrymore (1997). He was Tony-nominated for his performances in the plays J.B. (1959), Othello (1982), No Man's Land (1994), King Lear (2004), and Inherit the Wind (2007).
For his work on television he has also received seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning twice for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1977) and Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for Madeline in 1994. He has also received a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album nomination for Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in 1986.
== Major associations ==
=== Academy Awards ===
=== BAFTA Awards ===
=== Emmy Awards ===
=== Golden Globe Awards ===
=== Grammy Awards ===
=== Screen Actors Guild Awards ===
=== Tony Awards ===
== Critics associations ==
== Miscellaneous awards ==
== Other theatre awards ==
== Honorary awards ==
== Canadian Honours ==
Canadian Honours System |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Dynasty_of_Egypt#Pharaohs_of_the_19th_Dynasty | Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt#Pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty | The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XIX), also known as the Ramessid dynasty, is classified as the second Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC. The 19th Dynasty and the 20th Dynasty furthermore together constitute an era known as the Ramesside period. This Dynasty was founded by Vizier Ramesses I, whom Pharaoh Horemheb chose as his successor to the throne.
== History ==
=== Background ===
The warrior kings of the early 18th Dynasty had encountered only little resistance from neighbouring kingdoms, allowing them to expand their realm of influence easily, but the international situation had changed radically towards the end of the dynasty. The Hittites had gradually extended their influence into Syria and Canaan to become a major power in international politics, a power that both Seti I and his son Ramesses II would confront in the future.
=== 19th Dynasty ===
==== Seti I and Ramesses II ====
The New Kingdom of Egypt reached the zenith of its power under Seti I and Ramesses II ("The Great"), who campaigned vigorously against the Libyans and the Hittites. The city of Kadesh was first captured by Seti I, who decided to concede it to Muwatalli of Hatti in an informal peace treaty between Egypt and Hatti. Ramesses II later attempted unsuccessfully to alter this situation in his fifth regnal year by launching an attack on Kadesh in his Second Syrian campaign in 1274 BC; he was caught in history's first recorded military ambush, but thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin (a force allied with Egypt), Ramesses was able to rally his troops and turn the tide of battle against the Hittites. Ramesses II later profited from the Hittites' internal difficulties, during his eighth and ninth regnal years, when he campaigned against their Syrian possessions, capturing Kadesh and portions of Southern Syria, and advancing as far north as Tunip, where no Egyptian soldier had been seen for 120 years. He ultimately accepted that a campaign against the Hittites was an unsupportable drain on Egypt's treasury and military. In his 21st regnal year, Ramesses signed the earliest recorded peace treaty with Urhi-Teshub's successor, Hattusili III, and with that act Egypt-Hittite relations improved significantly. Ramesses II even married two Hittite princesses, the first after his second Sed Festival.
==== Merneptah and successors ====
This dynasty declined as infighting for the throne between the heirs of Merneptah increased. Amenmesse apparently usurped the throne from Merneptah's son and successor, Seti II, but he ruled Egypt for only four years. After his death, Seti regained power and destroyed most of Amenmesse's monuments. Seti was served at court by Chancellor Bay, who was originally just a 'royal scribe' but quickly became one of the most powerful men in Egypt, gaining the unprecedented privilege of constructing his own tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV13). Both Bay and Seti's chief wife, Twosret, had a sinister reputation in Ancient Egyptian folklore. After Siptah's death, Twosret ruled Egypt for two more years, but she proved unable to maintain her hold on power amid the conspiracies and powerplays being hatched at the royal court. She was likely ousted in a revolt led by Setnakhte, founder of the 20th Dynasty.
== Pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty ==
The pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty ruled for approximately 110 years: from c. 1292 to 1187 BC. Many of the pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings in Thebes (designated KV). Royal brother-sister marriages were observed, as a means to strengthen the royalty by echoing the practices in their creation myths. More information can be found on the Theban Mapping Project website.
== Comparison of regnal lists ==
Although the Nineteenth Dynasty is well-recorded, they aren't fully featured in many Egyptian king lists, mostly due to the surviving ones being written by the early Nineteenth Dynasty pharaohs. The Abydos king list was finished during the reign of Seti I while the Saqqara and Ramesseum king lists were finished during the reign Ramesses II, and so don't record the later pharaohs.
The only 2 surviving king lists that fully feature the Nineteenth Dynasty are the Medinet Habu king list from the time of Ramesses III of the Twentieth Dynasty, and Manetho, who lived during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The Medinet Habu king list omits Amenmesse, Siptah and Twosret. Manetho's now-lost work Aegyptiaca also provided individual reign lengths, however the lengths seem to be inaccurate and later Epitomes of the work were misunderstood by various writers who conflated multiple kings into a single figure, failed to understand the number of kings in this dynasty.
== Timeline of the 19th Dynasty ==
== Gallery of images == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder | Stevie Wonder | Stevland Hardaway Morris ( STEEV-lənd; né Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, and is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band during much of his peak years, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments in the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions.
Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. As a teenager he established himself as one of Motown's most successful acts, becoming known for his excited harmonica playing and high-pitched singing in hits such as "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", "I Was Made to Love Her", "For Once in My Life", and "My Cherie Amour"; his single "Fingertips" (1963) hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 when he was 13, making him the youngest solo artist ever to top the chart. Wonder's critical and commercial peak, termed his "classic period" (1972–1976), began with the albums Music of My Mind and Talking Book (1972), which abandoned the Motown sound in favor of a synthesizer- and keyboard-driven one. With Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974), and Songs in the Key of Life (1976), he became the first Black musician to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases.
In the 1980s Wonder achieved international cultural presence, with high-profile collaborations (notably with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson), television appearances, charity work, and political influence, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the United States. Hotter Than July (1980), the soundtrack album The Woman in Red (1984), and In Square Circle (1985) all peaked within the top five of the Billboard 200. "Ebony and Ivory", "I Just Called to Say I Love You", "Part-Time Lover", and "That's What Friends Are For" all reached number one, making him the first act to top the Billboard Hot 100 in three consecutive decades. Wonder returned to the top five with his latest album, A Time to Love (2005), and he has continued to remain active in music and political causes.
Wonder is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 100 million records worldwide. He has won 25 Grammy Awards (the most by a male solo artist) and an Academy Award. He has been inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He ranked in the top 10 on Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest singers and greatest songwriters of all time. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2014, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Believing himself to be of Ghanaian ancestry, he was conferred Ghanaian citizenship in 2024.
== Early life ==
Wonder was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan, the third of five children born to Lula Mae Hardaway, and the second of Hardaway's two children with Calvin Judkins. Wonder was born six weeks premature, a condition that, along with the oxygen-rich atmosphere in the hospital incubator, resulted in retinopathy of prematurity, a disease that aborts eye growth and often causes the retinas to detach, which left him blind.
When Wonder was four, his mother divorced his father and moved with her three children to Detroit. Wonder attended Whitestone Baptist Church, where he sang in the choir and became a soloist at age eight. His mother later rekindled her relationship with her first child's father (whose surname was also coincidentally Hardaway), changed her name back to Lula Hardaway, and had two more children.
Wonder began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica, and drums. He formed a singing partnership with a friend; calling themselves Stevie and John, they played on street corners and occasionally at parties and dances. When Stevie was signed by Motown in 1961, his surname was legally changed to Morris, which (according to Lula Mae Hardaway's authorized biography) was an old family name. Berry Gordy was responsible for creating the stage name of "Little Stevie Wonder".
Wonder attended Fitzgerald Elementary School in Detroit. After his first album was released, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie (1962), he enrolled in Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan.
== Career ==
=== 1960s: Singles as a youth ===
In 1961, at the age of 11, Wonder sang his own composition, "Lonely Boy", to Ronnie White of the Miracles; White then took Wonder and his mother to an audition at Motown, where CEO Berry Gordy signed Wonder to Motown's Tamla label. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder. Because of Wonder's age, the label drew up a rolling five-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a weekly stipend to cover their expenses: Wonder received $2.50 (equivalent to $26.93 in 2025) per week, and a private tutor was provided when Wonder was on tour.
Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, and for a year they worked together on two albums. Tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first, when Wonder was still 11 years old. Mainly covers of Ray Charles's songs, the album included a Wonder and Paul composition, "Sunset". The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Paul's compositions, two of which, "Wondering" and "Session Number 112", were co-written with Wonder. Feeling Wonder was now ready, a song, "Mother Thank You", was recorded for release as a single, but then pulled and replaced by the Berry Gordy song "I Call It Pretty Music, But the Old People Call It the Blues" as his début single; released summer 1962, it almost broke into the Billboard 100, spending one week of August at 101. Two follow-up singles, "Little Water Boy" and "Contract on Love", both had no success, and the two albums, released in reverse order of recording—The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie in September 1962 and Tribute to Uncle Ray in October 1962—also met with little success.
At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the Motortown Revue, touring the "Chitlin' Circuit" of theaters across America that accepted black artists. At the Regal Theater, Chicago, his 20-minute performance was recorded and released in May 1963 as the album Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius. A single, "Fingertips", from the album was also released in May, and became a major hit. The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, who is heard to call out "What key? What key?", was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously No. 1 on the R&B chart, the first time that had occurred. His next few recordings were not successful; his voice was changing as he got older, and some Motown executives were considering canceling his recording contract. During 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either. Motown producer/songwriter Sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Berry Gordy to give Wonder another chance.
Dropping the "Little" from his name, Moy and Wonder worked together to create the hit "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", and Wonder went on to have a number of other hits during the mid-1960s, including "With a Child's Heart", and "Blowin' in the Wind", a Bob Dylan song, co-sung by his mentor, producer Clarence Paul. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his label mates, including "The Tears of a Clown", a No. 1 hit for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (it was first released in 1967, mostly unnoticed as the last track of their Make It Happen LP, but eventually became a major success when re-released as a single in 1970, which prompted Robinson to reconsider his intention of leaving the group).
In 1968, Wonder recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the title Eivets Rednow, which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backward. The album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of Burt Bacharach's and Hal David's "Alfie", only reached number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1967 and 1970 such as "I Was Made to Love Her", "For Once in My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". A number of Wonder's early hits, including "My Cherie Amour", "I Was Made to Love Her", and "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", were co-written with Henry Cosby. The hit single "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" was Wonder's first-ever self-produced song.
In 1969, Wonder participated in the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy with the song "Se tu ragazzo mio", in conjunction with Gabriella Ferri. Between 1967 and 1970, he recorded four 45 rpm singles and an Italian LP.
Wonder's appearance at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival opens the 2021 music documentary, Summer of Soul. Wonder plays a drum solo during his set.
=== 1970s: Classic period ===
In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a songwriter and former Motown secretary. Wright and Wonder worked together on the next album, Where I'm Coming From (1971), Wonder writing the music, and Wright helping with the lyrics. Wonder and Wright wanted to "touch on the social problems of the world", and for the lyrics "to mean something". The album was released at around the same time as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. As both albums had similar ambitions and themes, they have been compared; in a contemporaneous review by Vince Aletti in Rolling Stone, Gaye's was seen as successful, while Wonder's was seen as failing due to "self-indulgent and cluttered" production, "undistinguished" and "pretentious" lyrics, and an overall lack of unity and flow. Also in 1970, Wonder co-wrote (and played numerous instruments on) the hit "It's a Shame" for fellow Motown act the Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his ongoing negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy. Reaching his 21st birthday on May 13, 1971, Wonder allowed his Motown contract to expire.
Around the release of Where I'm Coming From, Wonder became interested in synthesizers after hearing the album Zero Time by the electronic group Tonto's Expanding Head Band, which consisted of Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil. He hired them as associate producers after meeting them in New York in May 1971. The trio quickly recorded a large amount of material, featuring a predominantly electronic sound due to the extensive use of Margouleff and Cecil's custom-built modular synthesizer, the TONTO synthesizer. The instrument combined several synthesizers, including the ARP 2600, Oberheim SEM, and the Moog. Wonder later reflected that "the synthesizer has allowed me to do a lot of things I've wanted to do for a long time but were not possible till it came along". He used the recordings as leverage in contract negotiations with Motown. The new contract, signed in July 1971, was unusually liberal by Motown standards and granted Wonder a higher royalty rate of 14%.
The first new material resulting from the collaboration was released in March 1972 on Music of My Mind. The album's lyrics addressed social and political issues alongside romantic themes. Critics praised the album, viewing it as a further step towards artistic maturity and self-expression. It peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 and number six on the R&B chart. Two singles were released: "Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)" in April and "Keep On Running" in August, which peaked at No. 33 and 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a highly successful collaboration with Margouleff and Cecil as Wonder's associate producers, engineers, and synthesizer programmers: between 1972 and 1974, the trio recorded four albums together. Co-writer Yvonne Wright would also return on later projects. Wonder played as support act on The Rolling Stones's June–July American Tour 1972, helping his music cross over to white audiences.
The electronic sound continued on Talking Book, released in October 1972. Although much of the material was recorded during the same sessions as Music of My Mind, it is generally considered to showcase a more mature and introspective Stevie Wonder, and it was acclaimed by critics. The album featured the single "Superstition", which became Wonder's first number-one hit on the Hot 100 in a decade and is regarded as one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet. The album also included "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which likewise reached number one on the Hot 100. The two songs earned three Grammy Awards between them at the 1974 ceremony. The album was Wonder's most commercially successful to date, peaking at number three on the Billboard 200 and becoming his first album to reach the top of the R&B chart, where it remained for three weeks.
Wonder's next album Innervisions, released in August 1973, featured "Higher Ground" (No. 4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant, racially conscious "Living for the City" (No. 8). Both songs reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole. Innervisions generated two more Grammy Awards at the 1974 ceremony: Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical, presented to Cecil and Margouleff, and his first Album of the Year; at the ceremony the following year, he earned the award for Best R&B Song for "Living for the City". With Innervisions, Wonder became the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s. The album is ranked No. 34 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
On August 6, 1973, three days after the release of Innervisions, Wonder was seriously injured in an automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina. Being driven by his cousin John Harris in a rental Mercury Monarch sedan on the Interstate 85, the car hit the back of a flatbed farm truck, leaving Wonder with a fractured skull and a cerebral contusion. He was rushed to the hospital, where he lay in a coma for four days. The injury resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell, a temporary loss of his sense of taste, and a bump on the forehead. He was transported to Los Angeles after two weeks for continued treatment before returning to New York in September. Despite orders from his doctor to refrain from performing, Wonder made a surprise appearance at an Elton John concert in Boston Garden on September 25, and in November played at a homecoming benefit for Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Shaw was facing financial difficulties, so Wonder, who was a member of the university's board of trustees, rallied other acts including Exuma, Labelle, and the Chambers Brothers to join the concert, which raised more than $10,000 for the school's scholarship fund.
Wonder embarked on a European tour in early 1974, performing in France at the Midem convention in Cannes, in England at the Rainbow Theatre in London, and on the German television show Musikladen. On his return to the United States, he played a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974, highlighting both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City". The album Fulfillingness' First Finale appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the No. 1 "You Haven't Done Nothin'" and the Top Ten "Boogie On Reggae Woman". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.
The same year, Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session with ex-Beatles members John Lennon and Paul McCartney that would become known as the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74. He also co-wrote and produced the 1974 Syreeta Wright album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta.
On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historic "Wonder Dream Concert" in Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind. In 1975, he played harmonica on two tracks on Billy Preston's album It's My Pleasure.
By 1975, at the age of 25, Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974 for Innervisions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness' First Finale. In 1976, when Paul Simon won the Album of the Year Grammy for his Still Crazy After All These Years, he wryly noted: "I'd like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn't make an album this year."
The double album-with-extra-EP, Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognizable and accomplished albums in pop music history. The album became the first by an American artist to debut straight at No. 1 in the Billboard charts, where it stood for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Two tracks became No. 1 Pop/R&B hits: "I Wish" and "Sir Duke". The baby-celebratory "Isn't She Lovely" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "Love's in Need of Love Today" and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammys. The album ranks 4th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Also in 1976, Wonder heard about the demonstration of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, the first multi-font reading machine for the blind, on The Today Show, and later became the user of the first production unit, beginning a long-term association between himself and Ray Kurzweil.
Until 1979's Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", his only further 1970s release was the retrospective three-disc album Looking Back (1977), an anthology of his early Motown period.
=== 1980s: Increased cultural and political presence ===
The mainly instrumental soundtrack album Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" (1979), was composed using an early music sampler called a Computer Music Melodian. It was also his first digital recording, and one of the earliest popular albums to use the technology, which Wonder used for all subsequent recordings. Wonder toured briefly with an orchestra in support of the album, and used a Fairlight CMI sampler onstage. In this year Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit "Let's Get Serious", performed by Jermaine Jackson and ranked by Billboard as the No. 1 R&B single of 1980.
Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-certified album, and its single "Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday. The album also included "Master Blaster (Jammin')", "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It", and the sentimental ballad, "Lately".
In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his 1970s work with Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium, which included four new songs: the ten-minute funk classic "Do I Do" (which featured Dizzy Gillespie), "That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B side), "Front Line", a narrative about a soldier in the Vietnam War that Wonder wrote and sang in the first person, and "Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. He also gained a No. 1 hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "Ebony and Ivory".
Also in 1982, Wonder invited inventor Raymond Kurzweil to his Los Angeles recording studio, Wonderland, and asked if "we could use the extraordinarily flexible computer control methods on the beautiful sounds of acoustic instruments?" In response, and with Wonder as musical advisor, Kurzweil founded Kurzweil Music Systems, which unveiled the Kurzweil K250 in 1984.
In 1983, Wonder performed the song "Stay Gold", the theme to Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Wonder wrote the lyrics. In 1983, he scheduled an album to be entitled People Work, Human Play. The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for The Woman in Red. The lead single, "I Just Called to Say I Love You", was a No. 1 pop and R&B hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, where it was placed 13th in the list of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy award for best song in 1985. Wonder accepted the award in the name of Nelson Mandela and was subsequently banned from all South African radio by the Government of South Africa.
Incidentally, on the occasion of his 35th birthday, Stevie Wonder was honored by the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid for his stance against racism in South Africa that same year (1985). The album also featured a guest appearance by Dionne Warwick, singing the duet "It's You" with Stevie and a few songs of her own. Following the success of the album and its lead single, Wonder made an appearance on The Cosby Show, in the episode "A Touch of Wonder", where he demonstrated his ability to sample.
The following year's In Square Circle featured the No. 1 pop hit "Part-Time Lover". The album also has a Top 10 Hit with "Go Home". It also featured the ballad "Overjoyed", which was originally written for Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", but did not make the album. He performed "Overjoyed" on Saturday Night Live when he was the host. He was also featured in Chaka Khan's cover of Prince's "I Feel For You", alongside Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on Eurythmics' single "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues".
Wonder was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African famine relief, "We Are the World", and he was part of another charity single the following year (1986), the AIDS-inspired "That's What Friends Are For". He played harmonica on the album Dreamland Express by John Denver in the song "If Ever", a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews; wrote the track "I Do Love You" for the Beach Boys' 1985 self-titled album; and played harmonica on "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" on The Broadway Album by Barbra Streisand.
In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's Bad album, on the duet "Just Good Friends". Jackson also sang a duet with him entitled "Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album Characters. This was a minor hit single, as were "Skeletons" and "You Will Know", both songs becoming his final number one R&B singles. Wonder played harmonica on a remake of his own song, "Have a Talk with God" (from Songs in the Key of Life in 1976), on Jon Gibson's album Body & Soul (1989).
=== 1990s: Jungle Fever and 1996 Olympics ===
Wonder continued to release new material, but at a slower pace. In 1990, he participated in Whitney Houston's album I'm Your Baby Tonight, contributing the duet "We Didn't Know", which reached the top 20 of the Billboard R&B chart. He recorded a soundtrack album for Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever in 1991. From this album, singles and videos were released for "Gotta Have You", "Fun Day" (remix only), "These Three Words" and "Jungle Fever". The B-side to the "Gotta Have You" single was "Feeding Off the Love of the Land", which was played during the end credits of the movie Jungle Fever but was not included on the soundtrack. A piano and vocal version of "Feeding Off the Love of the Land" was also released on the Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal compilation. Conversation Peace and the live album Natural Wonder were released in the 1990s.
In 1992, Wonder went to perform at Panafest, a new international festival of music held biennially in Ghana; it was during this trip that he composed many of the songs featured on Conversation Peace, and he would describe in a 1995 interview the powerful impact his visit to that country had: "I'd only been there for 18 hours when I decided I'd eventually move there permanently." In 1994, as co-chair of Panafest that year, he headlined a concert at the National Theatre in Accra, Ghana's capital city.
Among his other activities, Wonder played harmonica on the track "Deuce" (sung by Lenny Kravitz) for the 1994 tribute album Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved; sang at the 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony; collaborated in 1997 with Babyface on "How Come, How Long", a song about domestic violence that was nominated for a Grammy Award; and played harmonica on Sting's 1999 "Brand New Day". In early 1999, Wonder performed in the Super Bowl XXXIII halftime show.
In May 1999, Rutgers University presented Wonder with an honorary doctorate degree in fine arts. In December 1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an intraocular retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight.
=== Into the 21st century: Later career and collaborations ===
In 2000, Wonder contributed two new songs to the soundtrack for Spike Lee's Bamboozled album ("Misrepresented People" and "Some Years Ago"). Wonder continues to record and perform; though mainly occasional appearances and guest performances, he did do two tours, and released one album of new material, 2005's A Time to Love. In June 2006, Wonder made a guest appearance on Busta Rhymes' album The Big Bang, on the track "Been through the Storm". He sings the refrain and plays the piano on the Dr. Dre- and Sha Money XL–produced track. He appeared again on the last track of Snoop Dogg's 2006 album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, "Conversations". The song is a remake of "Have a Talk with God" from Songs in the Key of Life. In 2006, Wonder staged a duet with Andrea Bocelli on the latter's album Amore, offering harmonica and additional vocals on "Canzoni Stonate". Wonder also performed at Washington, D.C.'s 2006 A Capitol Fourth celebration.
His other key appearances include performing at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, the 2005 Live 8 concert in Philadelphia, the pre-game show for Super Bowl XL in 2006, the Obama Inaugural Celebration in 2009, and the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
Wonder's first new album in 10 years, A Time to Love, was released in October 2005 to lower sales than previous albums, and lukewarm reviews—most reviewers appearing frustrated at the end of the long delay to get an album that mainly copied the style of Wonder's "classic period" without doing anything new. The first single, "So What the Fuss", was released in April. A second single, "From the Bottom of My Heart", was a hit on adult-contemporary R&B radio. The album also featured a duet with India Arie on the title track "A Time to Love". In 2006, Wonder also recorded a duet with Tony Bennett, a rendition of "For Once in My Life", which earned them a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Wonder did a 13-date tour of North America in 2007, starting in San Diego on August 23; this was his first U.S. tour in more than 10 years. On September 8, 2008, he started the European leg of his Wonder Summer's Night Tour, the first time he had toured Europe in more than a decade. His opening show was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, in the English Midlands. During the tour, he played eight UK gigs; four at the O2 Arena in London (filmed in HD and subsequently released as a live-in-concert release on DVD and Blu-Ray, Live at Last), two in Birmingham and two at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester. Wonder's other stop in the tour's European leg also found him performing in the Netherlands (Rotterdam), Sweden (Stockholm), Germany (Cologne, Mannheim and Munich), Norway (Hamar), France (Paris), Italy (Milan) and Denmark (Aalborg). Wonder also toured Australia (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) and New Zealand (Christchurch, Auckland and New Plymouth) in October and November. His 2010 tour included a two-hour set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, a stop at the Hard Rock Calling festival in Hyde Park, London, and appearances at England's Glastonbury Festival, Rotterdam's North Sea Jazz Festival, a concert in Bergen, Norway, and a concert in Dublin, Ireland, at The O2 on June 24.
By June 2008, Wonder was working on two projects simultaneously: a new album called The Gospel Inspired by Lula and Through the Eyes of Wonder, an album he has described as a performance piece that will reflect his experience as a blind man. In October 2020, Wonder mentioned both Through the Eyes of Wonder and The Gospel Inspired by Lula as projects in development. None of the albums have yet been released.
Wonder's harmonica playing can be heard on the 2009 Grammy-nominated "Never Give You Up", featuring CJ Hilton and Raphael Saadiq.
Wonder sang at the Michael Jackson memorial service in 2009, at Etta James' funeral, in 2012, a month later at Whitney Houston's memorial service, and at the funeral of Aretha Franklin in 2018.
In 2013, Wonder revealed that he had been recording new material for two albums, When the World Began and Ten Billion Hearts, in collaboration with producer David Foster. The albums have not seen release. Wonder appeared on singer Celine Dion's studio album Loved Me Back to Life (2013), performing a cover of his 1985 song "Overjoyed", and played harmonica on "Make It Look Good", a track from Mariah Carey's studio album Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014). He was also featured on two tracks on Mark Ronson's 2015 album Uptown Special, and the track "Stop Trying to Be God" on Travis Scott's 2018 album Astroworld.
In October 2020, Wonder announced that he had a new vanity label released via Republic Records, So What the Fuss Records, marking the first time his music was not released through Motown Records. The announcement was paired with the release of two singles: "Can't Put It in the Hands of Fate", a "socially-conscious" funk track, and "Where Is Our Love Song", whose proceeds will go towards the organization Feeding America.
In June 2021, Wonder appeared in the documentary Summer of Soul, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, showing the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969. In never-before-seen footage, a young 19-year-old Stevie Wonder is seen performing in front of thousands of people in Harlem. His performance shown in the documentary included "It's Your Thing" by the Isley Brothers and a drum solo. Wonder talks about the turning point made in his career during this time and how this helped him get out of being seen as just a child star. In September 2021, Wonder's duet with Elton John, "Finish Line", was released as a single.
In October 2022, Wonder celebrated his 50th anniversary of his project Talking Book.
On August 30, 2024, Wonder released his first new song in four years, "Can We Fix Our Nation's Broken Heart". On July 3, 2025, he headlined at the Lytham Festival, in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, UK.
== Legacy ==
Wonder is one of the most notable and influential popular music figures of the 20th century. He is one of the most successful songwriters and musicians. Virtually a one-man band during his peak years, his use of synthesizers and further electronic musical instruments during the 1970s helped expand the sound of R&B. He is also credited as one of the artists who helped drive R&B into the album era, by crafting his LPs as cohesive, consistent statements with complex sounds. His "classic period", which culminated in 1976, was marked by his funky keyboard style, personal control of production, and use of integrated series of songs to make concept albums. In 1979, Wonder used Computer Music Inc.'s early music sampler, the Melodian, on his soundtrack album Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants". This was his first digital recording and one of the earliest popular albums to use the technology, which Wonder used for all subsequent recordings.
Wonder recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and wrote and produced songs for many of his label mates and outside artists. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. He plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bongos, organ, melodica, Clavinet, and harpejji. Wonder has been credited as a pioneer and influence to musicians of various genres, including pop, rhythm and blues, soul, funk and rock.
Wonder's "classic period" is generally agreed to be between 1972 and 1976. Some observers see aspects of 1971's Where I'm Coming From as certain indications of the beginning of Wonder's "classic period", such as its new funky keyboard style that Wonder used throughout the classic period. Some determine Wonder's first "classic" album to be 1972's Music of My Mind, on which he attained personal control of production, and on which he programmed a series of songs integrated with one another to make a concept album. Others skip over early 1972 and determine the beginning of the classic period to be in late 1972 with Talking Book, the album on which Wonder "hit his stride".
Wonder's albums during his "classic period" were considered very influential in the music world: the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said they "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade"; in 2005, American recording artist Kanye West said of his own work: "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?" Slate magazine's pop critic, Jack Hamilton, said: "Most Americans follow up their 21st birthdays with a hangover; Stevie Wonder opted for arguably the greatest sustained run of creativity in the history of popular music. Wonder's "classic period"—the polite phrase for when Stevie spent five years ferociously dunking on the entire history of popular music with the releases of Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life [...] We've never heard anything like it since, and barring another reincarnation, we never will again."
Wonder has recorded more than 30 U.S. top-ten hits, including ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts, well as 20 R&B number-one hits. He has sold more than 100 million records, 19.5 million of which are albums; he is one of the top 60 best-selling music artists with combined sales of singles and albums. Wonder was the first Motown artist and second African-American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song, which he won for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red. Wonder won 25 Grammy Awards (the most ever won by a solo artist), as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. His albums of the "classic period", Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976), all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the tied-record holder for the most Album of the Year wins, with three. He is also the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases. He has been inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Rock Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame, and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize. Rolling Stone named him the seventh greatest singer and fifteenth greatest artist of all time. In 2024, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph ranked him the fifth greatest keyboard player of all time. In June 2009, he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award.
In 2003, Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list included Innervisions at number 23, Songs in the Key of Life at number 56 (promoted to number 4 for the 2020 edition), Talking Book at number 90 (promoted to number 59 for the 2020 edition), and Music of My Mind at number 284. In 2004, on their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, Rolling Stone included "Superstition" at number 74 (promoted to number 12 for the 2020 edition), "Living for the City" at number 104, "Higher Ground" at number 261 (promoted to number 113 for the 2020 edition), and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" at number 281 (promoted to number 183 for the 2020 edition); additionally, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" was included in the 2020 edition at number 203.
Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in the United States. On October 21, 1974, with the Boston busing desegregation underway, Wonder spoke and led students in song at a lounge at the University of Massachusetts Boston the day after he performed at the Boston Garden.
== Personal life ==
=== Marriages and children ===
Wonder has been married three times. He was married to Motown singer-songwriter and frequent collaborator Syreeta Wright from 1970 until their amicable divorce in 1972, after which their musical collaboration continued (she sang on 1995's Conversation Peace). From 2001 until 2015, he was married to fashion designer Kai Millard. In October 2009, Wonder and Millard separated; Wonder filed for divorce in August 2012 and the divorce was finalized in 2015. In 2017, he married Tomeeka Bracy.
Wonder has nine children with five women. Two were born to Yolanda Simmons, whom Wonder met when she applied for a job as secretary for his publishing company. Simmons gave birth to Wonder's daughter Aisha Morris on February 2, 1975. After Aisha was born, Wonder said "she was the one thing that I needed in my life and in my music for a long time". Aisha was the inspiration for Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely?" (a six-minute track on Songs in the Key of Life that was an airplay-only hit; Wonder refused to shorten the song for a single). She is now a singer who has toured with her father and accompanied him on recordings, including his 2005 album A Time to Love. Wonder and Simmons also had a son, Keita, in 1977.
In 1983, Wonder had a son named Mumtaz Morris with Melody McCulley. Wonder also has a daughter, Sophia, and a son, Kwame, with a woman whose identity has not been publicly disclosed. Wonder has two sons with second wife Kai Millard Morris. The elder is named Kailand, and he occasionally performs as a drummer on stage with his father. The younger son, Mandla Kadjay Carl Stevland Morris, was born on May 13, 2005 (his father's 55th birthday).
Wonder's ninth child and his second with Tomeeka Robyn Bracy (their first was daughter Zaiah), was born in December 2014, amid rumors that he would be the father to triplets. This turned out not to be the case, and the couple named their new daughter Nia, meaning "purpose" (one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa).
=== Family and health ===
On May 31, 2006, Wonder's mother Lula Mae Hardaway died in Los Angeles at the age of 76. During his September 8, 2008, UK concert in Birmingham, he spoke of his decision to begin touring again following his loss: "I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around."
At a concert in London's Hyde Park on July 6, 2019, Wonder announced that he would be undergoing a kidney transplant in September. The procedure was successfully performed in December 2019.
=== Religion and politics ===
Wonder has been a longtime Baptist affiliated with black churches. He was introduced to Transcendental Meditation through his marriage to Syreeta Wright. Consistent with that belief system, Wonder became vegetarian, and later a vegan, singing about it in October 2015 on The Late Late Show with James Corden during the show's "Carpool Karaoke" segment.
Wonder joined Twitter on April 4, 2018, and his first tweet was a five-minute video honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Dozens of famous personalities were rounded up in the video, which was titled "The Dream Still Lives". Each person involved shared their dream, calling back to King's popular speech in 1963. Wonder's first tweet took the Internet by storm, and he also encouraged viewers to share their own videos about their dreams with the hashtag #DreamStillLives.
On August 21, 2024, Wonder performed "Higher Ground" at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election. Wonder also briefly spoke at the convention, saying: "This is a moment to tell your children where you were and what you did. When we stand between history's pain and tomorrow's promises, we must choose courage over complacency."
=== Ghanaian citizenship ===
On May 13, 2024, Wonder's 74th birthday, Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo conferred Ghanaian citizenship on him. Wonder took the Oath of Allegiance and received his Certificate of Citizenship at Jubilee House in Accra.
== Awards and recognition ==
=== Grammy Awards ===
Wonder has won 25 Grammy Awards, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. He is one of only four artists and groups who have won the Grammy for Album of the Year three times as the main credited artist, along with Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, and Taylor Swift. Wonder is the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases.
=== Other awards and recognition ===
Wonder has been given a range of awards, both for his music and for his civil rights work, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum, being named one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace, and earning a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2014, presented at a ceremony in the White House on November 24 that year.
In December 2016, the City of Detroit recognized Wonder's legacy by renaming a portion of his childhood street, Milwaukee Avenue West, between Woodward Avenue and Brush Street, as "Stevie Wonder Avenue". He was also awarded an honorary key to the city, presented by Mayor Mike Duggan on the day of the unveiling of the new street sign.
In 2023, Wonder was awarded the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, conferred in recognition of his campaign to establish a U.S. national holiday for the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., who in November 1967 had received an honorary degree from Newcastle University.
In May 2024, Wonder was a recipient (alongside Misty Copeland) of the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America, the highest honor awarded by the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
=== Honorary degrees ===
Stevie Wonder has received many honorary degrees in recognition of his music career. These include:
== Discography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon | Sailor Moon | Sailor Moon (Japanese: 美少女戦士セーラームーン, Hepburn: Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn; originally translated as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, later Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into 52) and several side stories were compiled into 18 tankōbon volumes. Set in Tokyo in the 1990s, the series follows the adventures of a schoolgirl named Usagi Tsukino as she transforms into the eponymous character to search for a magical artifact, the "Legendary Silver Crystal" (「幻の銀水晶」, Maboroshi no Ginsuishō; lit. "Phantom Silver Crystal"). She leads a group of comrades, the Sailor Soldiers, called Sailor Guardians in later editions, as they battle against villains to prevent the theft of the Silver Crystal and the destruction of the Solar System.
The manga was written in conjunction with the airing of an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which was broadcast in Japan from 1992 to 1997. Toei also developed three animated feature films, a television special, and three short films based on the anime. A live-action television adaptation, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, aired from 2003 to 2004, and a second anime series, Sailor Moon Crystal, began simulcasting in 2014. The manga series was licensed for an English release by Kodansha Comics in North America, and in Australia and New Zealand by Random House Australia. The entire anime series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English-language release in North America and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.
Since its release, Sailor Moon has received critical acclaim, with praise for its art, characterization, and humor. The manga has sold over 46 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series, as well as one of the best-selling shōjo manga series of all time, marking its importance in the history of manga. Additionally, the television series played a major role in popularizing anime in the Western world, particularly in the United States. The Sailor Moon franchise has generated over $2.5 billion in worldwide merchandise sales.
== Overview ==
The series focuses on Usagi Tsukino, a young middle school student in the Azabu-Jūban district of Tokyo in the 1990s, who learns from the talking cat Luna that she is actually a reincarnation of a princess from the Moon Kingdom, Sailor Moon. She is joined by Ami Mizuno, a student who awakens as Sailor Mercury; Rei Hino, a local Shinto shrine maiden who awakens as Sailor Mars; Makoto Kino, a tall and strong transfer student who awakens as Sailor Jupiter; and Minako Aino, a young aspiring idol who had awakened as Sailor Venus a few months earlier, accompanied by her talking feline companion Artemis. As they set out on their adventures, others join the Guardians later in the series, including Mamoru Chiba, a high school student who occasionally assists them as Tuxedo Mask; Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru's future daughter who awakens as Sailor Chibi Moon; Haruka Tenoh, a car-racer who can transform into Sailor Uranus; Michiru Kaioh, a violinist who can transform into Sailor Neptune; Setsuna Meioh, a physics student who can transform into Sailor Pluto; Hotaru Tomoe, who awakens as Sailor Saturn; and the Three Lights, pop idols who are really the Sailor Starlights. Together, they encounter extraterrestrials, space travelers, and other Guardians as they protect the Earth and the Moon from destruction by malevolent forces.
== Production ==
=== Concept and creation ===
Naoko Takeuchi, after working on the 1991 Nami Akimoto manga Miracle Girls, redeveloped Sailor Moon from her manga one-shot Codename: Sailor V, which was published on August 8, 1991, and featured Sailor Venus as the main protagonist. Takeuchi wanted to create a story with a theme about girls in outer space. While discussing with her editor, Fumio Osano, he suggested the addition of Sailor fuku. When Codename: Sailor V was proposed for adaptation into an anime by Toei Animation, Takeuchi redeveloped the concept so Sailor Venus became a member of a team. The resulting manga series became a fusion of the popular magical girl genre and the Super Sentai series, of which Takeuchi was a fan. Recurring motifs include astronomy, astrology, gemology, Greco-Roman mythology, Japanese elemental themes, teenage fashion trends, and schoolgirl antics. Codename: Sailor V would continue to run parallel to Sailor Moon as a serial, now recontextualized as an origin story for Sailor Venus.
Takeuchi said discussions with Kodansha originally envisaged a single story arc; the storyline was developed in meetings a year before serialization began. After completing the arc, Toei and Kodansha asked Takeuchi to continue the series. She wrote four more story arcs, which were often published simultaneously with the five corresponding seasons of the anime adaptation. The anime ran one or two months behind the manga. As a result, the anime follows the storyline of the manga fairly closely, although there are deviations. Takeuchi later said because Toei's production staff was mostly male, she felt the anime had "a slight male perspective".
Takeuchi later said that she planned to kill off the protagonists, but Osano rejected the notion and said, "[Sailor Moon] is a shōjo manga!" When the anime adaptation was produced, the protagonists were killed in the final battle with the Dark Kingdom, although they were revived. Takeuchi resented that she was unable to do that in her version. Takeuchi also intended for the Sailor Moon anime adaptation to last for one season, but due to its immense popularity, Toei asked Takeuchi to continue the series. At first, she struggled to develop another storyline to extend the series. While discussing with Osano, he suggested the inclusion of Usagi's daughter from the future, Chibiusa.
=== Westernization ===
When the Sailor Moon anime was first released in North America and dubbed in English in 1995, fans and academics alike noted that the dub had westernized the series by altering or removing Japanese names and cultural references. These included, but were not limited to, Sailor Moon's real name, Usagi Tsukino, being changed to Serena, and the name of Mamoru Chiba, Usagi's love interest, being changed to Darien Shields. The original main theme was changed from a romance ballad discussing Serena's (Usagi's) eternal love for Darien (Mamoru) to an anthem focused on Serena's newfound identity as the superheroine Sailor Moon. The nature of Serena and Darien's relationship – a minor who is romantically involved with an adult – was interestingly unchanged from the Japanese anime, although attempts were made to obscure the age difference in the Western adaptations.
Other examples of westernization referenced by Sailor Moon's audience included flipping scenes of traffic to have cars drive on the right side of the road, along with the English dub changing any conversations between characters that contained lesser-known Japanese cultural references, removing violent scenes, reducing visible nudity. The North American, Italian, and Latin American adaptations altered LGBT+ characters, such as depicting the lesbian couple of Amara (Haruka) and Michelle (Michiru) as cousins, creating problematic subtexts that do not exist in the original work, changing the gay couple of Zoisite and Malachite (Kunzite) into a heterosexual couple by making Zoisite a woman, and converting the antagonist Fisheye from biological male with female gender representation who shows sexual interest in males to a female character.
According to Bandai America, the company in charge of Sailor Moon merchandise in the Western Hemisphere, the approach to advertising Sailor Moon was to make the show and superheroine "'culturally appropriate' for the American market".
== Media ==
=== Manga ===
Written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi, Sailor Moon was serialized by Kodansha in the shōjo manga anthology Nakayoshi from December 28, 1991, to February 3, 1997. The side-stories were serialized simultaneously in RunRun—another of Kodansha's manga magazines. The 52 individual chapters were published in 18 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from July 6, 1992, to April 4, 1997. In 2003, the chapters were re-released in a collection of 12 shinzōban volumes to coincide with the release of the live-action series. The manga was retitled Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and included new cover art, and revised dialogue and illustrations. The ten individual short stories were also released in two volumes. In 2013, the chapters were once again re-released in 10 kanzenban volumes to commemorate the manga's 20th anniversary, which includes digitally remastered artwork, new covers, and color artwork from its Nakayoshi run. The books were enlarged from the typical Japanese manga size to A5. The short stories were republished in two volumes, with the order of the stories shuffled. Codename: Sailor V was also included in the third edition.
The Sailor Moon manga was initially licensed for an English release by Mixx (later Tokyopop) in North America. The manga was first published as a serial in MixxZine beginning in 1997, but was later removed from the magazine and made into a separate, low print monthly comic to finish the first, second, and third arcs. At the same time, the fourth and fifth arcs were printed in a secondary magazine, Smile. Pages from the Tokyopop version of the manga ran daily in the Japanimation Station, a service accessible to users of America Online. The series was later collected into a three-part graphic novel series spanning eighteen volumes, which were published from December 1, 1998, to September 18, 2001. In May 2005, Tokyopop's license to the Sailor Moon manga expired, and its edition went out of print.
In 2011, Kodansha Comics announced that the company had acquired the license for the Sailor Moon manga and its lead-in series, Codename: Sailor V, in English. They published the twelve volumes of Sailor Moon simultaneously with the two-volume edition of Codename: Sailor V from September 2011 to July 2013. The first of the two related short story volumes was published on September 10, 2013; the second was published on November 26, 2013. At Anime Expo 2017, Kodansha Comics announced plans to re-release Sailor Moon in an "Eternal Edition", featuring a new English translation, new cover artwork by Takeuchi, and color pages from the manga's original run, printed on extra-large premium paper. The first Eternal Edition volume was published on September 11, 2018; the tenth and final volume was published on October 20, 2020. On July 1, 2019, Kondasha Comics began releasing the Eternal Editions digitally, following an announcement the day before about the series being released digitally in ten different languages. In November 2020, Kodansha Comics announced plans to re-release the Sailor Moon manga again as part of their "Naoko Takeuchi Collection". The company described the new edition as a "more affordable, portable" version of the Eternal Edition. The first volume was published on April 5, 2022, and the last on September 17, 2024.
Sailor Moon has also been licensed in other English-speaking countries. In the United Kingdom, the volumes are distributed by Turnaround Publisher Services. In Australia, the manga is distributed by Penguin Books Australia.
The manga has been licensed in Russia as well as the CIS for distribution by publishing company XL Media. The first volume was released in 2018.
=== Anime series & films ===
==== Overview ====
==== Sailor Moon ====
Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the 52 manga chapters, also titled Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. Junichi Sato directed the first season, Kunihiko Ikuhara took over the second through fourth season, and Takuya Igarashi directed the fifth and final season. The series premiered in Japan on TV Asahi on March 7, 1992, and ran for 200 episodes until its conclusion on February 8, 1997. Upon its release, the show quickly rose to be Toei Animation's highest-rated TV series. Most of the international versions, including the English adaptations, are titled Sailor Moon.
==== Sailor Moon Crystal ====
On July 6, 2012, Kodansha and Toei Animation announced that it would commence the production of a new anime adaptation of Sailor Moon, called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal, for a simultaneous worldwide release in 2013 as part of the series's 20th anniversary celebrations, and stated that it would be a closer adaptation of the manga than the first anime. Crystal premiered on July 5, 2014, and new episodes would air on the first and third Saturdays of each month. A new cast was announced, along with Kotono Mitsuishi reprising her role as Sailor Moon. The first two seasons were released together, covering their corresponding arcs of the manga (Dark Kingdom and Black Moon). A third season based on the Infinity arc of the manga premiered on Japanese television on April 4, 2016, known as Death Busters in this adaptation. Munehisa Sakai directed the first and second seasons, while Chiaki Kon directed the third season.
==== Films and television specials ====
Three animated theatrical feature films based on the original Sailor Moon series have been released in Japan: Sailor Moon R: The Movie in 1993, followed by Sailor Moon S: The Movie in 1994, and Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie in 1995. The films are side-stories that do not correlate with the timeline of the original series. A one-hour television special was aired on TV Asahi in Japan on April 8, 1995. Kunihiko Ikuhara directed the first film, while the latter two were directed by Hiroki Shibata.
In 1997, an article in Variety stated that The Walt Disney Company was interested in acquiring the rights to Sailor Moon as a live action film to be directed by Stanley Tong and Geena Davis set to portray as Queen Beryl, along with Winona Ryder and Elisabeth Shue starring as well. After Disney put the project on turnaround, Universal Pictures acquired the film rights.
In 2017, it was revealed that Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal anime's fourth season would be produced as a two-part theatrical anime film project, adapting the Dream arc from the manga. On June 30, 2019, it was announced that the title of the film would be Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie. The first film was to be released on September 11, 2020, but was postponed and released on January 8, 2021, and the second film was released on February 11, 2021. Chiaki Kon returned from Crystal's third season to direct the two films.
In 2022, it was announced that a sequel to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie, covering the Stars arc of the manga, would also be produced as a two-part theatrical anime film project, titled Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie. The two films were directed by Tomoya Takahashi and were released on June 9 and 30, 2023, respectively.
=== Companion books ===
There have been numerous companion books to Sailor Moon. Kodansha released some of these books for each of the five story arcs, collectively called the Original Picture Collection. The books contain cover art, promotional material, and other work by Takeuchi. Many of the drawings are accompanied by comments on the way she developed her ideas, created each picture, and commentary on the anime adaption of her story. Another picture collection, Volume Infinity, was released as a self-published, limited-edition art book after the end of the series in 1997. This art book includes drawings by Takeuchi and her friends, her staff, and many of the voice actors who worked on the anime. In 1999, Kodansha published the Materials Collection; this contained development sketches and notes for nearly every character in the manga, and for some characters that never appeared. Each drawing includes notes by Takeuchi about costume pieces, the mentality of the characters, and her feelings about them. It also includes timelines for the story arcs and for the real-life release of products and materials relating to the anime and manga. A short story, Parallel Sailor Moon, is also featured, celebrating the year of the rabbit.
=== Novels ===
Sailor Moon was also adapted for publication as novels and released in 1998. The first book was written by Stuart J. Levy. The following novels were written by Lianne Sentar.
=== Stage musicals ===
In mid-1993, the first musical theater production based on Sailor Moon premiered and starred Anza Ohyama as Sailor Moon. Thirty such musicals in all have been produced, with one in pre-production. The show’s stories include anime-inspired plotlines and original material. Music from the series has been released on about 20 memorial albums. The popularity of the musicals has been cited as a reason behind the production of the live-action television series, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
During the original, run musicals ran in the winter and summer of each year, with summer musicals staged at the Sunshine Theater in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo. In the winter, musicals toured to other large cities in Japan, including Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Shizuoka, Kanazawa, Sendai, Saga, Oita, Yamagata, and Fukushima. The final incarnation of the first run, New Legend of Kaguya Island (Revised Edition) (新・かぐや島伝説 <改訂版>, Shin Kaguyashima Densetsu (Kaiteban)), went on stage in January 2005, following which, Bandai officially put the series on a hiatus. On June 2, 2013, Fumio Osano announced on his Twitter page that the Sailor Moon musicals would begin again in September 2013. The 20th anniversary show La Reconquista ran from September 13 to 23 at Shibuya's AiiA Theater Tokyo, with Satomi Ōkubo as Sailor Moon. Satomi Ōkubo reprised the role in the 2014 production Petite Étrangère, which ran from August 21 to September 7, 2014, again at AiiA Theater Tokyo.
=== Live-action film & series ===
==== Cancelled Disney film adaptation ====
During the 1990s, Disney had plans for a Sailor Moon film adaptation under the Walt Disney Pictures banner, but it did not make it far into development. Not much was known, except for the fact that they had intended for Geena Davis to portray Queen Beryl and that Stanley Tong was to direct it. Winona Ryder and Elisabeth Shue were also supposedly in talks for the roles of the Sailor Scouts.
==== Unrealized American adaptation ====
In 1993, Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment, Bandai, and Toon Makers, Inc. conceptualized their own version of Sailor Moon, which was half live-action and half Western-style animation. Toon Makers produced a 17-minute proof of concept pilot and a two-minute music video, both of which were directed by Rocky Solotoff, who also worked on the pilot's script. Renaissance-Atlantic presented the concept to Toei, but it was turned down, as their concept would have cost significantly more than simply exporting and dubbing the anime adaptation. The companies' work is believed by Solotoff to have been handed over to Raymond Iacovacci, one of the producers on the project, who stored the pilot script and animation cels in a storage facility. The logo created for the pilot was kept for the English dub, and Bandai released a "Moon Cycle" as part of its merchandise for the show, based on vehicles designed for the pilot.
The project was rediscovered in 1998 when the music video was screened at the Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles, where it was met with laughter by onlookers. A congoer recorded the music video and the audience response, which would later resurface on video sites such as YouTube. The pilot and the music video would go on to be discussed at conventions such as the 2011 Gen Con and 2012 Anime Expo. It was given the monikers of "Toon Makers' Sailor Moon" and "Saban Moon", despite having no connection with Saban Entertainment save for Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment, which worked with the company on Power Rangers. The proof of concept video was widely presumed to be lost, and director Solotoff reported that he was frequently contacted by people searching for the pilot. However, in 2012, multiple animation cels from the pilot, along with the script, surfaced on the internet after a storage locker, believed to be the one owned by Iacovacci, were sold.
In 1998, Frank Ward, along with his company Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment, tried to revive the idea of doing a live-action series based on Sailor Moon, this time called Team Angel, without the involvement of Toon Makers. A 2-minute reel was produced and sent to Bandai America, but was also rejected.
In August 2022, the proof of concept was showcased for the first time on YouTube in a documentary by Ray Mona. Mona obtained both the pilot and its music video, as well as its related materials, from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
==== Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon ====
In 2003, Toei Company produced a Japanese live action Sailor Moon television series using the new translated English title of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Its 49 episodes were broadcast on Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting from October 4, 2003, to September 25, 2004. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon featured Miyuu Sawai as Usagi Tsukino, Rika Izumi (credited as Chisaki Hama) as Ami Mizuno, Keiko Kitagawa as Rei Hino, Mew Azama as Makoto Kino, Ayaka Komatsu as Minako Aino, Jouji Shibue as Mamoru Chiba, Keiko Han reprising her voice role as Luna from the original anime, and Kappei Yamaguchi voicing Artemis. The series was an alternate retelling of the Dark Kingdom arc, adding a storyline different from that in the manga and first anime series, with original characters, and new plot developments. In addition to the main episodes, two direct-to-video releases appeared after the show ended its television broadcast. "Special Act" is set four years after the main storyline ends, and shows the wedding of the two main characters. "Act Zero" is a prequel showing the origins of Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask.
=== Video games ===
The Sailor Moon franchise has spawned several video games across various genres and platforms. Most were made by Bandai and its subsidiary Angel; others were produced by Banpresto. The early games were side-scrolling fighters; later ones were unique puzzle games or versus fighting games. Another Story was a turn-based role-playing video game. The only Sailor Moon game produced outside Japan, 3VR New Media's The 3D Adventures of Sailor Moon, went on sale in North America in 1997. They were developed in association with DIC Entertainment, which held the rights to the game and the TV series. A video game called Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende (Sailor Moon: The Moon Shines) was released on March 16, 2011, for the Nintendo DS.
=== Tabletop games ===
The Dyskami Publishing Company released Sailor Moon Crystal Dice Challenge, created by James Ernest of Cheapass Games and based on the Button Men tabletop game, in 2017, and Sailor Moon Crystal Truth or Bluff in 2018.
=== Theme park attractions ===
A Sailor Moon attraction, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: The Miracle 4-D, was announced for Universal Studios Japan. It featured Sailor Moon and the Inner Guardians arriving at the theme park, only to discover and stop the Youma's plan from stealing people's energies. The attraction ran from March 16 through July 24, 2018.
The sequel attraction, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Miracle 4-D: Moon Palace Chapter, ran from May 31, 2019, to August 25, 2019. It featured all 10 Sailor Guardians and Super Sailor Moon.
In January 2022, a new attraction was announced titled Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Miracle 4-D: Moon Palace Chapter Deluxe. The attraction features the same storyline as the last and features the Sailor Guardians in their princess forms. It ran from March 4, 2022, to August 28, 2022. The same attraction is expected to release in Universal Studios Hollywood in April 2026 as part of Universal Fan Fest Nights.
=== Ice skating show ===
An ice skating show of Sailor Moon was announced on June 30, 2019, starring Evgenia Medvedeva as the lead. The name for the ice-skating show was announced as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Prism on Ice, as well as the additional casts, with Anza from the first Sailor Moon musicals to play Queen Serenity, and the main voice actresses of the Sailor Moon Crystal anime series to voice their individual characters. Takuya Hiramatsu from the musicals was to write the screenplay, Yuka Sato and Benji Schwimmer were to be in charge of choreography, and Akiko Kosaka & Gesshoku Kaigi were to write the music for the show. The show was set to debut in early June 2020, but was first postponed to June 2021, and later to June 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally cancelled on February 23, 2023, due to an "unstable world situation", following the Russo-Ukrainian war.
=== Idol group ===
A Japanese idol pop group named SG5, short for Sailor Guardians 5, was announced in June 2022. Early plans to form the group began in 2020, with the official lineup and overall concept finalized in 2022. As part of the process, the group had to seek the approval of Naoko Takeuchi by performing in front of her and giving a presentation. The group consists of five members: Sayaka, Ruri, Miyuu, Kaede, and Rui. They officially debuted in July 2022 at Anime Expo. On March 1, 2023, SG5 released their debut single "Firetruck", alongside a music video with references to the manga. The group re-debuted under the name F5ve with the single "Lettuce" in May 2024, ceasing their association with Sailor Moon.
== Reception ==
Sailor Moon is one of the most popular manga series of all time and continues to enjoy high readership worldwide. More than one million copies of its tankōbon volumes had been sold in Japan by the end of 1995. The series and its characters have been described as iconic. By the series's 20th anniversary in 2012, the manga had sold over 35 million copies in over fifty countries, and the franchise has generated $2.5 billion in worldwide merchandise sales as of 1996. By 1995, Sailor Moon merchandise was bringing in more than $250 million per year in Japan. The manga won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1993 in the shōjo genre. The English adaptations of both the manga and the anime series became the first successful shōjo title in the United States. The character of Sailor Moon is recognized as one of the most popular and influential female superheroes of all time.
The 1992 Sailor Moon anime was broadcast in Spain and France beginning in December 1993; these became the first countries outside Japan to broadcast the series. It was later aired in Russia, South Korea, the Philippines, China, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, before North America picked up the franchise for adaptation. In the Philippines, Sailor Moon was one of its carrier network's main draws, helping it to become the third-biggest network in the country. In 2001, the Sailor Moon manga was Tokyopop's best-selling property, outselling the next-best-selling titles by at least a factor of 1.5. In Diamond Comic Distributors’ May 1999 "Graphic Novel and Trade Paperback" category, Sailor Moon Volume 3 was the best-selling comic book in the United States.
Academic Timothy J. Craig attributes Sailor Moon's international success to three characteristics: the show's magical girl transformation of ordinary characters into superheroes, the ability of marketers to establish the international audience's connection to characters, despite their culture being Japanese, and a female superhero protagonist, something which was still rare in global pop culture during the 1990s.
In his 2007 book Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson gave the manga series three stars out of four. He enjoyed the blending of shōnen and shōjo styles and said the combat scenes seemed heavily influenced by Saint Seiya, but shorter and less bloody. He also said the manga itself appeared similar to Super Sentai television shows. Thompson found the series fun and entertaining, but said the repetitive plot lines were a detriment to the title, which the increasing quality of art could not make up for; even so, he called the series "sweet, effective entertainment". Thompson said that although the audience for Sailor Moon is both female and male, Takeuchi does not use fan service for males, which would run the risk of alienating her female audience. Thompson said fight scenes are not physical and "boil down to their purest form of a clash of wills", which he says "makes thematic sense" for the manga. Venita Blackburn of The New York Times opined that Sailor Moon is a "transformative experience" about friendship and liberation that does not match the world's expectations of femininity, adding that its "iconic status" within the queer community was "no accident". She stated that the world of Sailor Moon is "interested in transformation, in upsetting expectations of presentation and value related to girlhood, masculinity, strength and gender roles", further adding that in Sailor Moon, the concept of transformation is "about light, magic and power hidden in the ordinariness of living", concluding that "there is nothing queerer than that".
While comparing the manga and anime, Sylvain Durand thought that the manga artwork was"gorgeous", but that its storytelling was more compressed and erratic, and the anime had more character development. Durand said "the sense of tragedy is greater" in the manga's telling of the "fall of the Silver Millennium," giving more detail about the origins of the Four Kings of Heaven and in Usagi's final battle against Queen Beryl and Metaria. Durand said the anime omits information that makes the story easy to understand, but judges the anime as more "coherent" with a better balance of comedy and tragedy, whereas the manga is "more tragic" and focused on Usagi and Mamoru's romance.
For the week of September 11, 2011, to September 17, 2011, the first volume of the re-released Sailor Moon manga was the best-selling manga on The New York Times Manga Best Sellers list, with the first volume of Codename: Sailor V in second place. The first print run of the first volume sold out after four weeks.
In English-speaking countries, Sailor Moon developed a cult following among anime fans and university students. Patrick Drazen says the Internet was a new medium that fans used to communicate and played a role in the popularity of Sailor Moon. Fans could use the Internet to discuss the series, organize campaigns to return Sailor Moon to U.S. broadcast, share information about episodes that had not yet aired, or write fan fiction. Gemma Cox of Neo magazine said part of the series's allure was that fans communicated via the Internet about the differences between the dub and the original version.
== Cultural impact and legacy ==
With their dynamic heroines and action-oriented plots, Sailor Moon is widely credited with reinvigorating the magical girl genre. After its success, many similar magical girl series, including Magic Knight Rayearth, Wedding Peach, Saint Tail, Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Cyber Team in Akihabara, Corrector Yui, and Pretty Cure, emerged. Sailor Moon has been called "the biggest breakthrough" in English-dubbed anime until 1995, when it premiered on YTV, and "the pinnacle of little kid shōjo anime". Cultural anthropologist Rachel Thorn said that soon after Sailor Moon, shōjo manga started appearing in bookshops instead of fandom-dominated comic shops. The series is seen as kickstarting a wider movement of girls taking up shōjo manga. Canadian librarian Gilles Poitras defines a generation of anime fans as those who were introduced to anime by Sailor Moon in the 1990s, saying they were both much younger than other fans and were also mostly female.
Historian Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a Super Sentai-like team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with revitalizing the magical girl genre itself. A reviewer for THEM Anime Reviews also credited the anime series with changing the genre—its heroine must use her powers to fight evil, not simply have fun as previous magical girls had done. The series has been compared to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Sailor Moon also influenced the development of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, W.I.T.C.H., Winx Club, LoliRock, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Robot Chicken, Steven Universe, and Totally Spies!.
Sailor Moon is associated with the feminist and girl power movements and with empowering its female viewers, especially regarding the "credible, charismatic and independent" characterizations of the Sailor Guardians. Sailor Moon is regarded as empowering to women and feminism in concept, particularly through the aggressive nature and strong personalities of the Guardians. It represents a specific type of feminist concept where "traditional feminine ideals [are] incorporated into characters that act in traditionally male capacities". While the Sailor Guardians are strong, independent fighters who thwart evil—which is generally a masculine stereotype—they are also ideally feminized in their Guardian transformation.
The most notable hyper-feminine features of the Sailor Guardians—and most other females in Japanese girls' comics—are the girls' thin bodies, long legs, and, in particular, round, orb-like eyes. Eyes are commonly known as the primal source within characters where emotion is evoked—sensitive characters have larger eyes than more stoic ones. The stereotypical role of women in Japanese culture is to undertake romantic and loving feelings; therefore, the prevalence of hyper-feminine qualities like the openness of the female eye in Japanese girls' comics is clearly exhibited in Sailor Moon. Thus, Sailor Moon emphasizes a type of feminist model by combining traditionally masculine action with traditionally feminine affection through the Sailor Guardians.
== Merchandise ==
Since the early 2000s, Toei Animation has collaborated with various different brands to create merchandise outside of a children's demographic. On February 20, 2020, ColourPop released a Sailor Moon-inspired makeup collection. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Sailor Moon in the U.S., streetwear brand KITH released clothing such as hoodies and t-shirts with Sailor Moon graphics on them. In honor of Sailor Moon's 30th anniversary, brands like Sanrio, Uniqlo, and Maison de FLEUR launched a Sailor Moon collaboration in January 2022. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_gas | Mustard gas | Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other species. In the wider sense, compounds with the substituents −SCH2CH2X or −N(CH2CH2X)2 are known as sulfur mustards or nitrogen mustards, respectively, where X = Cl or Br. Such compounds are potent alkylating agents, making mustard gas acutely and severely toxic. Mustard gas is a carcinogen. There is no preventive agent against mustard gas, with protection depending entirely on skin and airways protection, and no antidote exists for mustard poisoning.
Also known as mustard agents, this family of compounds comprises infamous cytotoxins and blister agents with a long history of use as chemical weapons. The name mustard gas is technically incorrect; the substances, when dispersed, are often not gases but a fine mist of liquid droplets that can be readily absorbed through the skin and by inhalation. The skin can be affected by contact with either the liquid or vapor. The rate of penetration into skin is proportional to dose, temperature and humidity.
Sulfur mustards are viscous liquids at room temperature and have an odor resembling mustard plants, garlic, or horseradish, hence the name. When pure, they are colorless, but when used in impure forms, such as in warfare, they are usually yellow-brown. Mustard gases form blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs, often resulting in prolonged illness ending in death.
== Etymology ==
The name of mustard gas derived from its yellow color, smell of mustard, and burning sensation on eyes. The term was first used in 1917 during World War I when Germans used the poison in combat.
== History as chemical weapons ==
Sulfur mustard is a type of chemical warfare agent. As a chemical weapon, mustard gas has been used in several armed conflicts since World War I, including the Iran–Iraq War, resulting in more than 100,000 casualties. Sulfur-based and nitrogen-based mustard agents are regulated under Schedule 1 of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, as substances with few uses other than in chemical warfare. Mustard agents can be deployed by means of artillery shells, aerial bombs, rockets, or by spraying from aircraft.
== Adverse health effects ==
Mustard gases have powerful blistering effects on victims. They are also carcinogenic and mutagenic alkylating agents. Their high lipophilicity accelerates their absorption into the body. Because mustard agents often do not elicit immediate symptoms, contaminated areas may appear normal. Within 24 hours of exposure, victims experience intense itching and skin irritation. If this irritation goes untreated, blisters filled with pus can form wherever the agent contacted the skin. As chemical burns, these are severely debilitating. Mustard gas can have the effect of turning a patient's skin different colors due to melanogenesis.
If the victim's eyes were exposed, then they become sore, starting with conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye), after which the eyelids swell, resulting in temporary blindness. Extreme ocular exposure to mustard gas vapors may result in corneal ulceration, anterior chamber scarring, and neovascularization. In these severe and infrequent cases, corneal transplantation has been used as a treatment. If inhaled in high concentrations, mustard agents cause bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, damaging mucous membranes and causing pulmonary edema. Depending on the level of contamination, mustard agent burns can vary between first and second degree burns. They can also be as severe, disfiguring, and dangerous as third degree burns. Some 80% of sulfur mustard in contact with the skin evaporates, while 10% stays in the skin and 10% is absorbed and circulated in the blood.
The carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of exposure to mustard gas increase the risk of developing cancer later in life. In a study of patients 25 years after wartime exposure to chemical weaponry, c-DNA microarray profiling indicated that 122 genes were significantly mutated in the lungs and airways of mustard gas victims. Those genes all correspond to functions commonly affected by mustard gas exposure, including apoptosis, inflammation, and stress responses. The long-term ocular complications include burning, tearing, itching, photophobia, presbyopia, pain, and foreign-body sensations.
Symptoms of exposure have been extensively documented. There is a considerable amount of information about the effects of exposure to sulfur mustard in humans and animals from the last century from wartime exposures and laboratory testing. Substantial information in the original documents is not readily available. There are numerous reviews of the literature that include early data as well as recent information.
=== Medical management ===
In a rinse-wipe-rinse sequence, skin is decontaminated of mustard gas by washing with liquid soap and water, or an absorbent powder. The eyes should be thoroughly rinsed using saline or clean water. A topical analgesic is used to relieve skin pain during decontamination. For skin lesions, topical treatments, such as calamine lotion, steroids, and oral antihistamines are used to relieve itching. Larger blisters are irrigated repeatedly with saline or soapy water, then treated with an antibiotic and petroleum gauze.
Mustard agent burns do not heal quickly and (as with other types of burns) present a risk of sepsis caused by pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The mechanisms behind mustard gas's effect on endothelial cells are still being studied, but recent studies have shown that high levels of exposure can induce high rates of both necrosis and apoptosis. In vitro tests have shown that at low concentrations of mustard gas, where apoptosis is the predominant result of exposure, pretreatment with 50 mM N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) was able to decrease the rate of apoptosis. NAC protects actin filaments from reorganization by mustard gas, demonstrating that actin filaments play a large role in the severe burns observed in victims.
A British nurse treating soldiers with mustard agent burns during World War I commented:
They cannot be bandaged or touched. We cover them with a tent of propped-up sheets. Gas burns must be agonizing because usually the other cases do not complain, even with the worst wounds, but gas cases are invariably beyond endurance and they cannot help crying out.
=== Mechanism of cellular toxicity ===
Sulfur mustards readily eliminate chloride ions by intramolecular nucleophilic substitution to form cyclic sulfonium ions. These very reactive intermediates tend to permanently alkylate nucleotides in DNA strands, which can prevent cellular division, leading to programmed cell death. Alternatively, if cell death is not immediate, the damaged DNA can lead to the development of cancer. Oxidative stress is another pathology involved in mustard gas toxicity.
Various compounds with the structural subgroup BC2H4X, where X is any leaving group and B is a Lewis base, have a common name of mustard. Such compounds can form cyclic "onium" ions (sulfonium, ammonium, etc.) that are good alkylating agents. These compounds include bis(2-haloethyl)ethers (oxygen mustards), the (2-haloethyl)amines (nitrogen mustards), and sesquimustard, which has two α-chloroethyl thioether groups (ClC2H4S−) connected by an ethylene bridge (−C2H4−). These compounds have a similar ability to alkylate DNA, but their physical properties vary.
== Formulations ==
In its history, various types and mixtures of mustard gas have been employed. These include:
H – Also known as HS ("Hun Stuff") or Levinstein mustard. This is named after the inventor of the "quick but dirty" Levinstein Process for manufacture, reacting dry ethylene with disulfur dichloride under controlled conditions. Undistilled mustard gas contains 20–30% impurities, which means it does not store as well as HD. Also, as it decomposes, it increases in vapor pressure, making the munition it is contained in likely to split, especially along a seam, releasing the agent to the atmosphere.
HD – Codenamed Pyro by the British, and Distilled Mustard by the US. Distilled mustard of 95% or higher purity. The term "mustard gas" usually refers to this variety of mustard.
HT – Codenamed Runcol by the British, and Mustard T- mixture by the US. A mixture of 60% HD mustard and 40% O-mustard, a related vesicant with lower freezing point, lower volatility and similar vesicant characteristics.
HL – A blend of distilled mustard (HD) and lewisite (L), originally intended for use in winter conditions due to its lower freezing point compared to the pure substances. The lewisite component of HL was used as a form of antifreeze.
HQ – A blend of distilled mustard (HD) and sesquimustard (Q).
Yellow Cross – any of several blends containing sulfur mustard. Named for the yellow cross painted on artillery shells.
== Commonly-stockpiled mustard agents (class) ==
== History ==
=== Development ===
Mustard gases were possibly developed as early as 1822 by César-Mansuète Despretz (1798–1863). Despretz described the reaction of sulfur dichloride and ethylene but never made mention of any irritating properties of the reaction product. In 1854, another French chemist, Alfred Riche (1829–1908), repeated this procedure, also without describing any adverse physiological properties. In 1860, the British scientist Frederick Guthrie synthesized and characterized the mustard agent compound and noted its irritating properties, especially in tasting. Also in 1860, chemist Albert Niemann, known as a pioneer in cocaine chemistry, repeated the reaction, and recorded blister-forming properties. In 1886, Viktor Meyer published a paper describing a synthesis that produced good yields. He combined 2-chloroethanol with aqueous potassium sulfide, and then treated the resulting thiodiglycol with phosphorus trichloride. The purity of this compound was much higher and consequently the adverse health effects upon exposure were much more severe. These symptoms presented themselves in his assistant, and in order to rule out the possibility that his assistant was suffering from a mental illness (psychosomatic symptoms), Meyer had this compound tested on laboratory rabbits, most of which died. In 1913, the English chemist Hans Thacher Clarke (known for the Eschweiler-Clarke reaction) replaced the phosphorus trichloride with hydrochloric acid in Meyer's formulation while working with Emil Fischer in Berlin. Clarke was hospitalized for two months for burns after one of his flasks broke. According to Meyer, Fischer's report on this accident to the German Chemical Society sent the German Empire on the road to chemical weapons.
The German Empire during World War I relied on the Meyer-Clarke method because 2-chloroethanol was readily available from the German dye industry of that time.
=== Use ===
Mustard gas was first used in World War I by the German army against British and Canadian soldiers near Ypres, Belgium, on July 12, 1917, and later also against the French Second Army. Yperite is "a name used by the French, because the compound was first used at Ypres." The Allies used mustard gas for the first time on November 1917 at Cambrai, France, after the armies had captured a stockpile of German mustard shells. It took the British more than a year to develop their own mustard agent weapon, with production of the chemicals centred on Avonmouth Docks (the only option available to the British was the Despretz–Niemann–Guthrie process).
Mustard gas was originally assigned the name LOST, after the scientists Wilhelm Lommel and Wilhelm Steinkopf, who developed a method of large-scale production for the Imperial German Army in 1916.
Mustard gas was dispersed as an aerosol in a mixture with other chemicals, giving it a yellow-brown color. Mustard agent has also been dispersed in such munitions as aerial bombs, land mines, mortar rounds, artillery shells, and rockets. Exposure to mustard agent was lethal in about 1% of cases. Its effectiveness was as an incapacitating agent. The early countermeasures against mustard agent were relatively ineffective, since a soldier wearing a gas mask was not protected against absorbing it through his skin and being blistered. A common countermeasure was using a urine-soaked mask or facecloth to prevent or reduce injury, a readily available remedy attested by soldiers in documentaries (e.g., They Shall Not Grow Old in 2018) and others (such as forward aid nurses) interviewed between 1947 and 1981 by the British Broadcasting Corporation for various World War One history programs; however, the effectiveness of this measure is unclear.
Mustard gas can remain in the ground for weeks, and it continues to cause ill effects. If mustard agent contaminates one's clothing and equipment while cold, then other people with whom they share an enclosed space could become poisoned as contaminated items warm up enough material to become an airborne toxic agent. An example of this was depicted in a British and Canadian documentary about life in the trenches, particularly once the "sousterrain" (subways and berthing areas underground) were completed in Belgium and France. Towards the end of World War I, mustard agent was used in high concentrations as an area-denial weapon that forced troops to abandon heavily contaminated areas.
Since World War I, mustard gas has been used in several wars and other conflicts, usually against people who cannot retaliate in kind:
United Kingdom against the Red Army in 1919
Alleged British use in Mesopotamia in 1920
Spain against the Rifian resistance in Morocco during the Rif War of 1921–27 (see also: Spanish use of chemical weapons in the Rif War)
Italy in Libya in 1930
The Soviet Union in Xinjiang, Republic of China, during the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang against the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) in 1934, and also in the Xinjiang War (1937) in 1936–37
Italy against Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in the 1935–1936
The Empire of Japan against China in the 1937–1945
The US military conducted experiments with chemical weapons like lewisite and mustard gas on Japanese American, Puerto Rican and African Americans in the US military in World War II to see how non-white races would react to being mustard gassed, with Rollin Edwards describing it as "It felt like you were on fire, guys started screaming and hollering and trying to break out. And then some of the guys fainted. And finally they opened the door and let us out, and the guys were just, they were in bad shape." and "It took all the skin off your hands. Your hands just rotted".
After World War II, stockpiled mustard gas was dumped by South African military personnel under the command of William Bleloch off Port Elizabeth, resulting in several cases of burns among local trawler crews.
The United States Government tested effectiveness on US Naval recruits in a laboratory setting at The Great Lakes Naval Base, June 3, 1945
The 2 December 1943 air raid on Bari destroyed an Allied stockpile of mustard gas on the SS John Harvey, killing 83 and hospitalizing 628.
Egypt against North Yemen in 1963–1967
Iraq against Kurds in the town of Halabja during the Halabja chemical attack in 1988
Iraq against Iranians in 1983–1988
Possibly in Sudan against insurgents in the civil war, in 1995 and 1997.
In the Iraq War, abandoned stockpiles of mustard gas shells were destroyed in the open air, and were used against Coalition forces in roadside bombs.
By ISIS forces against Kurdish forces in Iraq in August 2015.
By ISIS against another rebel group in the town of Mare' in 2015.
According to Syrian state media, by ISIS against the Syrian Army during the battle in Deir ez-Zor in 2016.
The use of toxic gases or other chemicals, including mustard gas, during warfare is known as chemical warfare, and this kind of warfare was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925, and also by the later Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. The latter agreement also prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and sale of such weapons.
In September 2012, a US official stated that the rebel militant group ISIS was manufacturing and using mustard gas in Syria and Iraq, which was allegedly confirmed by the group's head of chemical weapons development, Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, who has since been captured.
==== Development of the first chemotherapy drug ====
As early as 1919 it was known that mustard agent was a suppressor of hematopoiesis. In addition, autopsies performed on 75 soldiers who had died of mustard agent during World War I were done by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania who reported decreased counts of white blood cells. This led the American Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) to finance the biology and chemistry departments at Yale University to conduct research on the use of chemical warfare during World War II.
As a part of this effort, the group investigated nitrogen mustard as a therapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma and other types of lymphoma and leukemia, and this compound was tried out on its first human patient in December 1942. The results of this study were not published until 1946, when they were declassified. In a parallel track, after the air raid on Bari in December 1943, the doctors of the U.S. Army noted that white blood cell counts were reduced in their patients. Some years after World War II was over, the incident in Bari and the work of the Yale University group with nitrogen mustard converged, and this prompted a search for other similar chemical compounds. Due to its use in previous studies, the nitrogen mustard called "HN2" became the first cancer chemotherapy drug, chlormethine (also known as mechlorethamine, mustine) to be used. Chlormethine and other mustard gas molecules are still used to this day as an chemotherapy agent albeit they have largely been replaced with more safe chemotherapy drugs like cisplatin and carboplatin.
==== Disposal ====
In the United States, storage and incineration of mustard gas and other chemical weapons were carried out by the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency. Disposal projects at the two remaining American chemical weapons sites were carried out near Richmond, Kentucky, and Pueblo, Colorado. The last of the declared mustard weapons stockpile of the United States was destroyed on June 22, 2023 in Pueblo with other remaining chemical weapons being destroyed later in 2023.
New detection techniques are being developed in order to detect the presence of mustard gas and its metabolites. The technology is portable and detects small quantities of the hazardous waste and its oxidized products, which are notorious for harming unsuspecting civilians. The immunochromatographic assay would eliminate the need for expensive, time-consuming lab tests and enable easy-to-read tests to protect civilians from sulfur-mustard dumping sites.
In 1946, 10,000 drums of mustard gas (2,800 tonnes) stored at the production facility of Stormont Chemicals in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, were loaded onto 187 boxcars for the 900 miles (1,400 km) journey to be buried at sea on board a 400 foot (120 m) long barge 40 miles (64 km) south of Sable Island, southeast of Halifax, at a depth of 600 fathoms (1,100 m). The dump location is 42 degrees, 50 minutes north by 60 degrees, 12 minutes west.
A large British stockpile of old mustard agent that had been made and stored since World War I at M. S. Factory, Valley near Rhydymwyn in Flintshire, Wales, was destroyed in 1958.
Most of the mustard gas found in Germany after World War II was dumped into the Baltic Sea. Between 1966 and 2002, fishermen have found about 700 chemical weapons in the region of Bornholm, most of which contain mustard gas. One of the more frequently dumped weapons was "Sprühbüchse 37" (SprüBü37, Spray Can 37, 1937 being the year of its fielding with the German Army). These weapons contain mustard gas mixed with a thickener, which gives it a tar-like viscosity. When the content of the SprüBü37 comes in contact with water, only the mustard gas in the outer layers of the lumps of viscous mustard hydrolyzes, leaving behind amber-colored residues that still contain most of the active mustard gas. On mechanically breaking these lumps (e.g., with the drag board of a fishing net or by the human hand) the enclosed mustard gas is still as active as it had been at the time the weapon was dumped. These lumps, when washed ashore, can be mistaken for amber, which can lead to severe health problems. Artillery shells containing mustard gas and other toxic ammunition from World War I (as well as conventional explosives) can still be found in France and Belgium. These were formerly disposed of by explosion undersea, but since the current environmental regulations prohibit this, the French government is building an automated factory to dispose of the accumulation of chemical shells.
In 1972, the U.S. Congress banned the practice of disposing of chemical weapons into the ocean by the United States. 29,000 tons of nerve and mustard agents had already been dumped into the ocean off the United States by the U.S. Army. According to a report created in 1998 by William Brankowitz, a deputy project manager in the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, the army created at least 26 chemical weapons dumping sites in the ocean offshore from at least 11 states on both the East Coast and the West Coast (in Operation CHASE, Operation Geranium, etc.). In addition, due to poor recordkeeping, about one-half of the sites have only their rough locations known.
In June 1997, India declared its stock of chemical weapons of 1,044 tonnes (1,151 short tons) of mustard gas. By the end of 2006, India had destroyed more than 75 percent of its chemical weapons/material stockpile and was granted extension for destroying the remaining stocks by April 2009 and was expected to achieve 100 percent destruction within that time frame. India informed the United Nations in May 2009 that it had destroyed its stockpile of chemical weapons in compliance with the international Chemical Weapons Convention. With this India has become the third country after South Korea and Albania to do so. This was cross-checked by inspectors of the United Nations.
Producing or stockpiling mustard gas is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention. When the convention entered force in 1997, the parties declared worldwide stockpiles of 17,440 tonnes of mustard gas. As of December 2015, 86% of these stockpiles had been destroyed.
A significant portion of the United States' mustard agent stockpile was stored at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Approximately 1,621 tons of mustard agents were stored in one-ton containers on the base under heavy guard. A chemical neutralization plant was built on the proving ground and neutralized the last of this stockpile in February 2005. This stockpile had priority because of the potential for quick reduction of risk to the community. The nearest schools were fitted with overpressurization machinery to protect the students and faculty in the event of a catastrophic explosion and fire at the site. These projects, as well as planning, equipment, and training assistance, were provided to the surrounding community as a part of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP), a joint program of the Army and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Unexploded shells containing mustard gases and other chemical agents are still present in several test ranges in proximity to schools in the Edgewood area, but the smaller amounts of poison gas (4 to 14 pounds (1.8 to 6.4 kg)) present considerably lower risks. These remnants are being detected and excavated systematically for disposal. The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency oversaw disposal of several other chemical weapons stockpiles located across the United States in compliance with international chemical weapons treaties. These include the complete incineration of the chemical weapons stockpiled in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Oregon. Earlier, this agency had also completed destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile located on Johnston Atoll located south of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest mustard agent stockpile, at approximately 6,200 short tons, was stored at the Deseret Chemical Depot in northern Utah. The incineration of this stockpile began in 2006. In May 2011, the last of the mustard agents in the stockpile were incinerated at the Deseret Chemical Depot, and the last artillery shells containing mustard gas were incinerated in January 2012.
In 2008, many empty aerial bombs that contained mustard gas were found in an excavation at the Marrangaroo Army Base just west of Sydney, Australia. In 2009, a mining survey near Chinchilla, Queensland, uncovered 144 105-millimeter howitzer shells, some containing "Mustard H", that had been buried by the U.S. Army during World War II.
In 2014, a collection of 200 bombs was found near the Flemish villages of Passendale and Moorslede. The majority of the bombs were filled with mustard agents. The bombs were left over from the German army and were meant to be used in the Battle of Passchendaele in World War I. It was the largest collection of chemical weapons ever found in Belgium.
A large amount of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, was found in a neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The cleanup was completed in 2021.
==== Post-war accidental exposure ====
In 2002, an archaeologist at the Presidio Trust archaeology lab in San Francisco was exposed to mustard gas, which had been dug up at the Presidio of San Francisco, a former military base.
In 2010, a clamming boat pulled up some old artillery shells of World War I from the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island, New York. Multiple fishermen suffered from blistering and respiratory irritation severe enough to require hospitalization.
=== WWII-era tests on men ===
From 1943 to 1944, mustard agent experiments were performed on Australian service volunteers in tropical Queensland, Australia, by Royal Australian Engineers, British Army and American experimenters, resulting in some severe injuries. One test site, the Brook Islands National Park, was chosen to simulate Pacific islands held by the Imperial Japanese Army. These experiments were the subject of the documentary film Keen as Mustard.
The United States tested sulfur mustards and other chemical agents including nitrogen mustards and lewisite on up to 60,000 servicemen during and after WWII. The experiments were classified secret and as with Agent Orange, claims for medical care and compensation were routinely denied, even after the WWII-era tests were declassified in 1993. The Department of Veterans Affairs stated that it would contact 4,000 surviving test subjects but failed to do so, eventually only contacting 600. Skin cancer, severe eczema, leukemia, and chronic breathing problems plagued the test subjects, some of whom were as young as 19 at the time of the tests, until their deaths, but even those who had previously filed claims with the VA went without compensation.
African American servicemen were tested alongside white men in separate trials to determine whether their skin color would afford them a degree of immunity to the agents, and Nisei servicemen, some of whom had joined after their release from Japanese American Internment Camps were tested to determine susceptibility of Japanese military personnel to these agents. These tests also included Puerto Rican subjects.
=== Detection in biological fluids ===
Concentrations of thiodiglycol in urine have been used to confirm a diagnosis of chemical poisoning in hospitalized victims. The presence in urine of 1,1'-sulfonylbismethylthioethane (SBMTE), a conjugation product with glutathione, is considered a more specific marker, since this metabolite is not found in specimens from unexposed persons. In one case, intact mustard gas was detected in postmortem fluids and tissues of a man who died one week post-exposure. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_parrot | Grey parrot | The grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), also known as the Congo grey parrot, is an African parrot in the family Psittacidae. Psittacus erithacus was previously also known as the African grey parrot until the Timneh parrot (Psittacus timneh), previously treated as a subspecies, was elevated to a full species.
== Taxonomy ==
The grey parrot was formally described in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae. He placed it with all other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus erithacus. Linnaeus erroneously specified the type locality as "Guinea": the locality was later designated as Ghana in West Africa. The genus name is Latin for "parrot". The specific epithet erithacus is Latin and is derived from the Ancient Greek εριθακος (erithakos) for an unknown bird that was said to mimic human sounds, perhaps the black redstart.
The species is monotypic; no subspecies are accepted. The Timneh parrot was formerly treated as a subspecies of the grey parrot, but is now considered a separate species based mainly on results from a genetic and morphological study published in 2007. Although Linnaeus placed all the parrots known to him in the genus Psittacus, only the grey parrot and the Timneh parrot are now assigned to this genus.
The Clements Checklist classifies the Príncipe grey parrot as a subspecies of the grey parrot. It therefore recognises two subspecies:
P. e. erithacus Linnaeus, 1758–Ivory Coast to Kenya, Tanzania, Príncipe, São Tomé, and Bioko
Príncipe grey parrot (P. e. principe) Alexander, 1909 – Príncipe, an island off the west coast of Africa
This is in contrast to the IOC, which instead classifies it as a subspecies of the Timneh parrot.
== Description ==
The grey parrot is medium to large sized, predominantly grey and black-billed. Its typical weight is 400 g (14 oz), with an approximate length of 33 cm (13 in), and a wingspan of 46–52 cm (18–20+1⁄2 in). The head and wings are generally darker than the body. The head and body feathers have slight white edges; the tail feathers are red.
Both sexes appear similar. Juvenile colouration is similar to that of adults, but typically their eyes are dark grey to black, compared to the adults' yellow irises around dark pupils, and their undertail coverts are tinged with grey. Adults weigh 418–526 g (14+3⁄4–18+1⁄2 oz).
Grey parrots may live for 40–60 years in captivity, although their mean lifespan in the wild appears to be shorter — approximately 23 years. They start breeding at an age of 3–5 years and lay 3–5 eggs per brood.
== Distribution and habitat ==
The grey parrot is native to equatorial Africa, including Angola, Cameroon, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. The species is found inside a range from Kenya to the eastern part of Ivory Coast. Current estimates for the global population are uncertain and range from 630,000 to 13 million birds. Populations are decreasing worldwide. The species seems to favour dense forests, but can also be found at forest edges and in more open vegetation types, such as gallery and savanna forests.
A population study published in 2015 found that the species had been "virtually eliminated" from Ghana with numbers declining 90 to 99% since 1992. They were found in only 10 of 42 forested areas, and three roosts that once held 700–1200 birds each, now had only 18 in total. Local people mainly blamed the pet trade and the felling of timber for the decline. Populations are thought to be stable in Cameroon. In the Congo, an estimated 15,000 are taken every year for the pet trade, from the eastern part of the country, although the annual quota is stated to be 5,000.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission indicated they have observed grey parrots escaped or released into South Florida since at least 1984, but no evidence indicates that the population is breeding naturally.
== Behaviour and ecology in the wild ==
Little is known about the behaviour and activities of these birds in the wild. In addition to a lack of research funding, it can be particularly difficult to study these birds in wild situations due to their status as prey animals, which leads them to have rather secretive personalities. It has been shown that wild grey parrots may also imitate a wide variety of sounds they hear, much like their captive relatives. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two greys sound-recorded while roosting reportedly had a repertoire of over 200 different calls, including nine imitations of other wild bird songs and one of a bat.
=== Feeding ===
Grey parrots are mainly frugivorous, with most of their diet consisting of fruit, nuts, and seeds, including oil palm fruit. They sometimes also eat flowers and tree bark, as well as insects and snails. In the wild, the grey parrot is partly a ground feeder.
=== Breeding ===
Grey parrots are monogamous breeders who nest in tree cavities. Each mated pair of parrots needs their own tree for their nest. The hen lays three to five eggs, which she incubates for 30 days while being fed by her mate. The adults defend their nesting sites.
Grey parrot chicks require feeding and care from their parents in the nest. The parents take care of them until 4–5 weeks after they are fledged. Young leave the nest at the age of 12 weeks. Little is known about the courtship behaviour of this species in the wild. They weigh 12–14 g (7⁄16–1⁄2 oz) at hatching and 372–526 g (13+1⁄8–18+1⁄2 oz) when they leave their parents.
== Conservation ==
Natural predators for this species include palm-nut vultures and several raptors. Monkeys target eggs and the young for food.
Humans are by far the largest threat to wild grey populations. Between 1994 and 2003, more than 359,000 grey parrots were traded on the international market. Approximately 21% of the wild population was being harvested every year. Mortality rates are extremely high between the time they are captured and they reach the market, ranging from 60 to 66%. This species also is hunted for its meat and for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicines. As a result of the extensive harvest of wild birds, in addition to habitat loss, this species is believed to be undergoing a rapid decline in the wild and therefore, has been rated as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In October 2016, the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Fauna and Flora (CITES) extended the highest level of protection to grey parrots by listing the species under Appendix 1, which regulates international trade in the species.
In 2021, the Kenyan government held a short amnesty, during which grey parrot owners could pay a fee to obtain a permit for their birds and facilitate legal ownership. Following the expiry of this time period, it is now illegal to own this species without a permit.
== In captivity ==
The species is common in captivity and regularly kept by humans as a companion parrot, prized for its ability to mimic human speech, which makes it one of the most popular avian pets. An escaped pet in Japan was returned to his owner after repeating the owner's name and address.
Grey parrots are notorious for mimicking noises heard in their environment and using them tirelessly. They are highly intelligent birds, needing extensive behavioural and social enrichment as well as extensive attention in captivity or else they may become distressed. Feather plucking is a common symptom seen among such distressed grey parrots, affecting up to 40% of captive individuals. They may also be prone to behavioural problems due to their sensitive nature. Social isolation hastens stress and aging.
The grey parrot is a highly social species which relies on a flock-type structure, even when raised in captivity. Because they are so dependent on the other birds within their flock, much of their speech and vocal ability is acquired through interaction with the humans with whom they reside. Both wild and captive parrots have been shown to use contact calls, which allow them to interact with their flock mates and communicate information about their location, detection of predators, availability of food, and safety status. In addition, contact calls are used to form strong social bonds with their flock mates, or in the case of captive greys, with their human housemates. In captivity, they have been shown to display communicative competence, meaning they not only use human language correctly, but also in such a way that is appropriate for the social situation which they are in.
In January 2024, keepers at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Friskney, England, moved a notorious group of eight swearing parrots into a group of more than 100 birds in an attempt to "dilute" their excessive profane mimicry.
=== Diet ===
In captivity, grey parrots may be fed bird pellets, a variety of fruits such as pear, orange, pomegranate, apple, and banana, and vegetables such as carrot, cooked sweet potato, celery, fresh kale, green beans and peas. The birds also need a source of calcium.
=== Disease ===
Grey parrots in captivity have been observed to be susceptible to fungal infections, bacterial infections, nutritional insufficiency, malignant tumors, psittacine beak and feather disease, tapeworms, and blood-worms. Young grey parrots are more commonly infected by psittacine beak and feather disease than adults. Infected birds show symptoms such as loss of appetite, fluffy feathers, sluggishness, and reduced walking abilities due to brittle bones.
Grey parrots are more likely to have rhinitis, an inflammatory and infectious disease of the nasal cavity. Birds may exhibit signs such as wheezing, sneezing, nasal snuffling, and swelling or occlusion of the nares. Treatment options include gentle debridement and nasal irrigation.
=== Intelligence and cognition ===
Grey parrots are highly intelligent and are considered to be one of the most intelligent species of psittacines. Many individuals have been shown to perform some tasks at the cognitive level of a four- to six-year-old human child. Several studies have been conducted indicating a suite of higher-level cognitive abilities. Experiments have shown grey parrots can learn number sequences and can learn to associate human voices with the faces of the humans who create them. It has been reported that grey parrots are capable of using existing English words to create new labels for objects when the bird does not know the name of the object, for example "banerry" ("banana" + "cherry") for "apple", "banana crackers" for "dried banana chips" or "yummy bread" for "cake".
American scientist Irene Pepperberg's research with Alex the parrot showed his ability to learn more than 100 words, differentiating between objects, colours, materials and shapes. Pepperberg spent several decades working with Alex, and wrote numerous scientific papers on experiments performed, indicating the bird's advanced cognitive abilities. One such study found that Alex had the ability to add numbers as well as having a zero-like concept, similar to that of young children and apes.
In addition to their striking cognitive abilities, grey parrots have displayed altruistic behaviour and concern for others. Researchers found that while blue-headed macaws were unlikely to share a nut with other members of their own species, grey parrots would actively give their conspecific partner a nut even if it meant they would not be able to get one themselves. When the roles were reversed, their partners were overwhelmingly likely to return the favour, forgoing their own nut to their partner's benefits. This indicates not only a display of selflessness but also an act of reciprocity.
A 2012 study demonstrated that captive grey parrots have individual musical preferences. When presented with the opportunity to choose between two different pieces of music via a touch screen monitor located in their cage, the two birds in the test consistently chose different songs, to which they then danced and sang along. Some pet grey parrots have also been observed using the music feature of smart speakers to verbally request playback of specific favoured songs.
Some research has shown that foot preference can be linked to the number of words a particular parrot may know and use. Researchers found grey parrots who prefer to use their right foot showed a marked increase in the number of words within their lexicon as compared to left-footed parrots. Scientists postulate that parrots may have lateralization of brain function, much as mammals do.
In two murder trials, there was consideration to use the deceased victim's pet grey parrot's "testimony" as evidence due to the parrot's witnessing and repeating the victim's last words. In the 1993 murder trial of Gary Joseph Rasp, the defendant was accused of murdering Jane Gill. Public defender Charles Ogulnik wanted to use Jane's pet grey parrot Max to prove Gary's innocence, due to Max repeating Jane's last words, "Richard, no, no, no!". In the 2017 murder trial of Glenna Duram, the defendant was accused of murdering her husband Martin Duram. The prosecutor was exploring the possibility of using the couple's pet parrot Bud as evidence when Bud kept repeating Martin's last words, "Don't fucking shoot."
=== Mutations ===
Grey mutations occur naturally in the wild, such as the Blue Ino (albino), the Incomplete Ino, and the Blue varieties. The Blue Ino is all white. The Incomplete Ino has light pigmentation. The Blue has a white tail.
Due to selection by breeders, some captive grey parrots are partly or completely red. Breeders from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia have bred grey parrots intensively since the 1800s. These bred varieties include the Red Pied, F2 Pied, Grizzles, Ino, Incomplete, Parino, Lutino, Cinnamon, and Red Factor. South African bird breeder Von van Antwerpen and New Zealand partner Jaco Bosman selected F2 Pieds and created the first Red Factor Greys. They are rare, may be predominantly red-pigmented, and vary in price depending upon the extent of the red plumage displayed.
== History ==
The domestication of grey parrots dates back to 2000 B.C., depicting native birds as pets in Egyptian hieroglyphics. They were considered valuable by the Greeks and the Romans, who kept them in cages. Grey parrots, due to illegal trading in recent years, were listed as Endangered in 2016 on the IUCN Red List. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortured_Poets_Department | The Tortured Poets Department | The Tortured Poets Department is the eleventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on April 19, 2024, through Republic Records, with a double album edition subtitled The Anthology being released two hours after the standard edition. Swift wrote and produced the album with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner while she was embarking on the American leg of the Eras Tour in 2023.
Using autobiographical songwriting, The Tortured Poets Department reflects Swift's cathartic episode while she was experiencing personal upheavals amidst breakups and heightened fame. Its songs depict grief and emotional tumult caused by ill-fated romance in a hyperbolic and confrontational manner, exploring themes of mourning, depression, anger, delusion, erotic desires, and self-aware humor. Musically, The Tortured Poets Department features two production styles. The standard edition is largely minimalist, mid-tempo synth-pop, characterized by synthesizers, sustained bass, and programmed drums. The Anthology primarily consists of mellow, acoustic chamber pop and folk-pop ballads driven by piano and guitar. The album incorporates elements of electronica, country, rock, folk, and western.
Swift promoted the album via social media and music streaming platforms, and she included an extended set list for the Eras Tour in 2024. The Tortured Poets Department topped charts across Europe, Asia–Pacific, and the Americas; broke streaming and sales records; and became the global best-selling album of 2024. In the United States, The Tortured Poets Department became Swift's seventh album to open with over a million units and first to open with two million units, spent 17 weeks atop the Billboard 200, and was certified eight-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Its songs made Swift the first artist to monopolize the Billboard Hot 100's top 14 spots, with the lead single "Fortnight" featuring Post Malone topping the chart.
The Tortured Poets Department polarized music critics; positive reviews praised the cathartic narrative songwriting as emotionally resonant and deemed the album one of Swift's finest works, while mixed reviews described the production as redundant and the lyrics verbose rather than poetic. Within weeks after the initial reviews, several journalists reassessed and appreciated the album's musical and lyrical nuances, opining that the criticism was influenced by Swift's media overexposure and the lengthy tracklist. The album received an ARIA Music Award, a Premios Odeón, a Japan Gold Disc Award, and five nominations at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
== Background ==
In March 2023, Taylor Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which she conceived as a retrospective tour that paid tribute to all of the albums in her discography. The Eras Tour became the first concert tour to gross $1 billion in revenue, and its huge success propelled Swift's global fame to unprecedented levels, becoming a subject of academic studies in marketing, economics, and sociology. She began working on her eleventh studio album immediately after completing her tenth, Midnights (2022), and recorded it with longtime collaborators, the producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, while she was on the American leg of the Eras Tour.
Amidst the heightened fame, throughout 2023, Swift's personal life was a subject widely covered and debated by both her fans and the press, who routinely reported on her breakup after a six-year relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn, alleged brief romantic linking with the musician Matty Healy, and new relationship with the American football player Travis Kelce. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, during her acceptance speech for the Best Pop Vocal Album award for Midnights, Swift announced the title of her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Swift shared to her audience at an Eras concert in Melbourne, on February 16, 2024, that writing The Tortured Poets Department was a "lifeline" for her because it made her reflect on how songwriting was an integral part of her life.
== Themes and lyrics ==
=== Standard edition ===
The standard edition of The Tortured Poets Department consists of 16 songs, including two written solely by Swift—"My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?, eight co-written with Antonoff, and five with Dessner. The rapper and singer Post Malone is featured on and co-wrote "Fortnight", and the musician Florence Welch on "Florida!!!". In a self-written epilogue included at the end of the album's packaging, Swift situates herself as the "Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department" and details the overall narrative: she references the end of a long-term relationship, which transitions into a short-lived rebound romantic fling that painfully ends. In social media posts, she framed The Tortured Poets Department as an introspective album that reflects "events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time—one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure". According to some critics, by naming the album The Tortured Poets Department, Swift situated herself as a songwriter rooted in poetry's tradition of detailing the human experience with lost love and self-torment: from ancient times (Catullus, Sappho) and medieval times (Petrarch) to the European "poète maudit" archetype (Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire).
Using autobiographical songwriting combining country music's detail-heavy narratives and rock music's self-mythologizing, the songs reference her cathartic phase while dealing with personal upheavals caused by romantic failures and heightened fame. A heavily personal album, The Tortured Poets Department depicts emotions like anger, mourning, confusion, regret, longing, and delusion, which are told via lyrical narratives that are messy, unbridled, and unguarded—they mirror the experiences of grief and explore themes like erotic desires, forbidden love, and escaping from the public eye to extremes, in a hyperbolic and confrontational manner. The music critic Ann Powers summarized the content as a novel-like song collection about "emotional violence" that is imposed onto women by their male lovers and even by themselves, and commented that the lyrical details were so personal that they showcased Swift at her most vulnerable but also most ruthless.
The overall sentiments are grim and sombre, brought by lyrical imagery of death, murder, prison, mental health spirals, narcotics, and alcoholism. There are religious undertones, use of profanity, and internet culture-inspired slang in addition to literary allusions. According to the popular-culture academic Eloise Faichney, the writing style combining informal language with formal poetic traditions was emblematic of Instapoetry, used by her generation millennials, particularly women, to convey their experiences in prose or poetry using social media. The first major theme, the dissolution of a years-long relationship, is anchored by "So Long, London", in which Swift's narrator bids farewell to an ex-partner and their romance in London. She resents how the lost love wasted her youth and how she tried to rescue it to no avail, a theme that is also detailed in "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys", in which she is in denial that the relationship is no longer salvageable. The second major theme, the transition to a passionate fling that abruptly ends, is detailed across most tracks, which combine autobiographical details with fictionalized narratives and use devices like hyperbole or melodrama for impact. "Fortnight" details a two-weeks-long romance that entails jealousy and murderous thoughts, while "Fresh Out the Slammer" compares the old romance to a suffocating prison and depicts Swift's narrator escaping from it the moment it ends, to get together with an old flame.
The brief fling sends Swift's narrator into a whirlwind of strong emotions blending desire and pain. In "Down Bad", she compares the feelings caused by this short-lived infatuation to being abducted by an extraterrestrial being. "Guilty as Sin?" explores her longing to be intimate with another man while being trapped in an unhappy relationship and the guilt that ensues, comparing her orgasm to death and ocean waves crashing. She declares her devotion to him in "But Daddy I Love Him", and, in "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)", is determined to bring out the sweet nature of this problematic man, until she realizes at the end that she could not. The painful ending is the theme of two tracks: "Loml" and "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived", which both explore the imbalanced dynamic between Swift's narrator and her subject. In "Loml", Swift's narrator is devastated by this "con-man" who falsely promised her marriage and kids but ultimately abandons her, whereas in "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived", she directs her anger and condemnation towards him, who ghosted her and thus "didn't measure up in any measure of a man", as depicted in the lyrics.
The album's third major theme revolves around Swift's fame and its impact on her, alluding to how she coped with the breakups while having to perform in the public eye. In these songs, which reference her public image and incorporate self-aware and sometimes self-deprecating humor, she confronts anyone who she thought had wronged her: detractors, music-industry executives, the press, and her fans. In "The Tortured Poets Department", which details an impending heartbreak between two musicians, she tells her romantic interest that she is not Patti Smith and he is not Dylan Thomas, both associating with and distancing from the "tortured poet" archetype that the title evokes. In "But Daddy I Love Him", which is set in a religious small town, she criticizes anyone who disapproves of her romance with a troublesome man who may blemish her innocent, good-girl image. Several analyses opined that this was Swift's message to her fans to not interfere with her private life, influenced by their public outcry against her alleged fling with Healy due to his unpopularity.
"Florida!!!", "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", and "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" incorporate elements of Southern Gothic melodrama. Both "Florida!!!" and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" reflect Swift's anxiety when facing with her fame and identity: "Florida!!!" is an escapist tale about escaping to Florida to reinvent her identity and forget past wrongdoings, while "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" details her rage and resentment against the culture that she was brought up in, alluding to her early success when she was still a teenager. In "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart", Swift claims that she could put on a show despite her depression from being abandoned by her romantic interests. The standard edition's penultimate track, "The Alchemy", is about a burgeoning and triumphant romance using American football metaphors—the outlier in an album of heavy emotions. The closing track, "Clara Bow", was named after the 1920s silent-film actress Clara Bow. In it, Swift explores how women in the music industry are consecutively viewed as replacements for someone before them.
=== The Anthology ===
The double album edition of The Tortured Poets Department is subtitled The Anthology and contains 15 additional songs. Swift wrote three herself—"The Black Dog", "Peter", and "The Manuscript", 10 with Dessner, and three with Antonoff. While the Anthology songs expand on the original edition's themes of heartbreak and emotional tumult, they are less directly autobiographical and use literary subtexts to convey the sentiments via metaphors and character studies.
Motifs of mythology are prominent on The Anthology. "The Black Dog" and "The Albatross" draw from and reinvent English folklore imagery; the literature academic Matthew J. A. Green commented that they also feature influences of gothic literature. "The Black Dog" references both a London pub and the mythical creature black dog—Swift's narrator is devastated upon learning that her ex-lover is seducing another female at the pub and, at the end of the song, compares his act of abandoning her to a dog with tail between his legs. In "The Albatross", Swift plays with the albatross metaphor originated in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1789 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Her narrator compares herself to the albatross as both a sign of danger and an agent of rescue, subverting from third- to first-person narration at the final chorus. The lyrics are ambiguous; according to the philosopher Georgie Mills, they can be interpreted as either Swift's warning to someone who has wronged her or caution for a potential romantic partner.
Swift similarly switches between first- and third-person storytelling in "Cassandra", a reference to the ancient Greek mythological princess Cassandra, who was a prophetess cursed by the god Apollo so that nobody believed in her prophecies. In the song, Swift's narrator details how the townsfolk murder Cassandra for her foresights, contrary to the original mythology that she is just ignored and not killed; Burt wrote that Swift's "Cassandra" exerts influences from Homer and Virgil. In "The Prophecy", Swift's narrator pleads to a higher being to change her destiny of loneliness and begs for a soulmate. According to Mills, the trope of prophecy evokes mythological tales such as Cassandra and Oedipus, and the lyrics incorporate biblical imagery of Eve being cursed.
The Anthology also features influences from literature. "Peter" is based on the narrative of J. M. Barrie's 20th-century play and novel Peter Pan. Told from the perspective of Wendy Darling, the song depicts her waiting by the window for the day Peter Pan grows up and comes back to her. By the end of the song, in the bridge, she concedes that she has tried in vain and, pleading with Peter Pan to forgive her, extinguishes the candlelight. "The Bolter" was influenced by Nancy Mitford's 1945 novel The Pursuit of Love, about a female character nicknamed "The Bolter", who stays in society's margin and looks for love anywhere and in anyone. In her song, Swift's narrator is an endearing and mischievous woman who finds pleasure in seducing bad men, whom she describes as "trophy hunters", and escaping them at every turn.
Other tracks draw from Swift's self-awareness and fame. In "How Did It End?", her narrator explores anguish over a failed relationship and contemplates on how the public's interest in her private life plays a role in the distorted reality and gossip that ensue. In "I Hate It Here", her narrator daydreams about escaping to an idealized past, imagining a beautiful landscape of secret gardens, lunar valleys, and gentle people, but she later acknowledges that nostalgia is a trap. "Thank You Aimee" is a sarcastic attack on a high-school bully; Swift's narrator appreciates the bully for making her stronger and tells them that she has changed their name so that they cannot enjoy the attention. The closing track, "The Manuscript", is a re-examination on a long-gone romantic relationship with an older man; while it was once painful, Swift's narrator reflects on it with maturity and acceptance. She ends the song with the line, "The story isn't mine anymore." According to Mills, this lyric refers to the "death of the author"—by relinquishing authorship on her stories, Swift gives way for her audience to collectively construct and own theirs, thus positioning herself as a "modern-day Homer" and turning her songs into folktales.
== Production and music ==
According to Swift, The Tortured Poets Department took two years to complete. She recorded and produced with Antonoff at Electric Lady Studios in New York City and Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and with Dessner at Long Pond Studios in the Hudson Valley. "Fresh Out the Slammer", "Florida!!!", and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" were additionally recorded at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans; "Florida!!!" also at Miloco Studios in London; and "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" at Rue Boyer Studio A in Paris. On tracks co-produced with Antonoff, his bandmates from Bleachers played and recorded instruments at their respective studios: Zem Audu and Evan Smith on synthesizers, Michael Riddleberger and Sean Hutchinson on drums and percussion, and Mikey Freedom Hart on guitars and keyboards. Swift's vocals were recorded by Laura Sisk at Electric Lady, and by Christopher Rowe at Prime Recording Studio in Nashville. Conducted by Robert Ames, the London Contemporary Orchestra provided string sections consisting of violins, violas, cellos, and double basses, to "Clara Bow" on the standard edition, and nine tracks on The Anthology.
The music of The Tortured Poets Department is minimalist. Compositionally, the songs reprise many elements that had been characteristic of Swift's music: they employ the verse-chorus form largely composed in major scale and set in common time, one-note melodies in the verses that create tensions for more tuneful choruses, and syncopated rhythms and phrasings. Many critics commented that the song structures and instrumental timbres feature influences of country music, a genre that defined her early career; according to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, Swift plays on traditional country songwriting by employing a "choppy pre-chorus, or chorus, that arrives in two-syllable bursts", which accentuates a steady verse structure and brings a "hip-hop percussiveness". Swift sings mostly in the lower ranges of her vocal register, resulting in a rap-like, conversational delivery; the music professor Samuel Murray commented that she reprised many of her common vocal devices, like one-note melodies and recitative singing style.
The production styles of Antonoff and Dessner result in two distinct soundscapes. Antonoff's synth-based approach results in mid-tempo synth-pop songs that characterize the standard edition, with an ambient, electronica soundscape composed of sustained pads and bass, electronic pulses, and sparse, programmed drum machine beats. The compositions incorporates elements of country, rock, pop rock, dream pop, and sophisti-pop. According to music critics, The Tortured Poets Department evokes the pop sounds of Swift's albums Midnights and 1989 (2014), but it is more muted and less danceable. Dessner's acoustic arrangements are driven by piano and guitar, resulting in mellow folk-pop and chamber pop ballads that characterize The Anthology, which also infuses elements of soft rock. Critics compared this production style to his collaborations with Swift on her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore.
=== Songs ===
The first four tracks of The Tortured Poets Department exemplify the muted synth-pop sound: "Fortnight", "The Tortured Poets Department", "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys", and "Down Bad". The first three incorporate influences of 1980s pop on their synth textures; "Fortnight" and "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" incorporate an ambient, new wave atmosphere. "Down Bad" features R&B inflections in its dynamic shifts and vocal cadences. "So Long, London" begins with vocal harmonies that resemble a cathedral choir and progresses into an electronic arrangement of trembling, fast-paced synths.
The next four tracks feature strong country influences, brought by a twang in their instrumental timbres. "But Daddy I Love Him" combines country, folk rock, and electropop, over amplified snare drums, dynamic strings, and Swift's full voice in her upper register. The reverbed electric guitar in "Fresh Out the Slammer" evokes Americana, while the composition of "Florida!!!"—gentle synths and rhythmic programming in the verses, and loud synths in the choruses, which end with a deep, tremolo electric guitar—situates it within indie rock and arena rock. "Guilty as Sin?" infuses elements of pop rock and 1990s soft rock, accentuated by live drums and melisma vocals. The intricate arrangement of "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" resembles orchestral pop: deep layers of dense, galloping synth sequences, grainy Moog bass, and a mix of electric guitar and drums. "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" is instrumented by sparse, tremolo guitars, and percussions that sound like gunshots, evoking a Wild West atmosphere and connotations of western music.
The minimalistic piano ballad "Loml" is driven by slow, melancholic piano chord arpeggios and soft vocals, building up with strings towards the end, while "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart" is driven by frantic synth arpeggiators and throbbing bass programming over an upbeat dance-pop, electropop, and disco-pop sound. "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" begins as a piano ballad and builds up with a monotone synth sequence and a climatic second part, instrumented with Swift's distorted vocals over eighth-note bass drums and crescendoing orchestral strings. "The Alchemy" is a pop rock song with uneven textures of electric guitars, sixteenth-note synth sequences, and rhythm and blues-styled acoustic drums, and the minimalist chamber-pop and pop-rock song "Clara Bow" is instrumented with airy, staccato strings and dual bass: one tonic, and one that harmonizes.
The Anthology is more musically uniformed, consisting of five piano ballads ("How Did It End?", "Cassandra", "Peter", "Robin", "The Manuscript"), two piano-led ballads ("The Black Dog", "Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus"), and five guitar ballads propelled by fingerpicking ("I Hate It Here", "Thank You Aimee", "I Look in People's Windows", "The Prophecy", "The Bolter"). There are a few outliers: "Imgonnagetyouback" has a synth-pop production and R&B-influenced vocals, and "So High School" evokes 1990s rock styles such as indie rock and alternative rock.
== Release ==
=== Title and artwork ===
Commenting on the title The Tortured Poets Department, Burt argued that while this did not turn Swift into a "print-based poet", it showcased her ability to incorporate evocative lyrics into pop songs. The lack of an apostrophe, as in The Tortured Poets' Department, was the subject of a debate in the press over grammatical correctness. Literary scholars commented that the title was grammatically correct: Swift employed Tortured Poets as an attributive noun, as in the case with the title of the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, and not as a possessive noun.
Photographed by Beth Garrabrant, the standard cover artwork is a black-and-white glamour photo shot of Swift lying on a bed wearing black loungewear: a see-through Yves Saint Laurent tank top and The Row boy shorts. The black-and-white photoshoot for the album's booklet shows Swift casting her eyes downward while pouting her lips; the English-literature scholar Emily J. Orlando compared Swift's posture to the paintings of the English poet Elizabeth Siddal by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a fellow poet. Media outlets described the album's visual aesthetic as gothic and dark academia. Both the artwork and title were parodied by numerous brands, organizations, sports teams, and franchises, and inspired numerous internet memes.
=== Promotion and distribution ===
After the Grammy announcement, on February 5, 2024, Swift released the album cover and standard track listing via social media, and made the first physical variant, "The Manuscript", available for pre-order. During the Australian and Singaporean shows of the Eras Tour in February−March 2024, she announced three additional physical editions that were each titled after a corresponding bonus track: "The Bolter", "The Albatross", and "The Black Dog". She partnered with Target for an exclusive "Phantom Clear" collector's vinyl LP edition.
Swift promoted The Tortured Poets Department on social media and music streaming platforms, prompting Swifties to search for Easter eggs. On Apple Music, she curated five playlists with each containing her previous songs, inspired by the five stages of grief. Spotify hosted a pop-up library of curated articles at The Grove, Los Angeles; QR code murals in various cities worldwide led to unlisted YouTube shorts on Swift's channel; Instagram included a countdown to the album's release; and Threads added special shimmer effects to hashtags related to Swift and the album. iHeartRadio and Sirius XM announced special programs with exclusive content from Swift to celebrate the album's release; the former temporarily rebranded as "iHeartTaylor".
Via Republic Records, The Tortured Poets Department was released on both physical and digital formats on April 19, 2024; The Anthology was surprise-released on digital platforms two hours later. The album had been leaked two days prior, which resulted in the phrase "Taylor Swift leak" being temporarily banned from searches on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The initial release was supported by 19 physical variants—nine CDs, six vinyl LPs, and four cassettes; all physical copies include a poem by the American singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, who is referenced in the track "Clara Bow".
From May 2024, starting with the Paris shows, Swift revamped the set list of the Eras Tour to include songs from The Tortured Poets Department in a new act, which she informally described as "Female Rage the Musical". In line with the album's aesthetics, the set featured black-and-white graphics and Old Hollywood-inspired settings. She recorded the live performances of several songs at shows in Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom, and released them as bonus tracks on limited-time digital albums via her website, exclusively to customers in the United States. Also released as bonus material were acoustic versions of tracks as part of five limited physical album editions, and "first draft phone" demo recordings as part of four limited digital album variants.
On November 29, 2024, The Anthology was released on vinyl and CD formats exclusively via Target in North America. The physical Anthology album includes four acoustic bonus tracks. The Tortured Poets Department spawned two singles: "Fortnight" was released on April 19, and "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart" on July 2. "Fortnight" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, marking Swift's seventh number-one debut and Malone's first, while "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart" spent 31 weeks on the chart, becoming the album's longest-charting song.
== Commercial performance ==
The Tortured Poets Department broke consumption records across all metrics: streaming, physical sales, and digital sales. On Spotify, the album broke the records for the most single-day streams (300 million) and the most single-week streams (the first album to accumulate one billion streams in a single week, doing so in five days). It became the most streamed album in a single day on Amazon Music and the most streamed pop album in a single day on Apple Music. Within one week of release, the album amassed 1.76 billion streams globally, an all-time record.
The Tortured Poets Department became the most-streamed album of 2024 on both Spotify and Apple Music. It accumulated 4 million album-equivalent units within its first release week, as reported by Republic Records, and sold 5.6 million copies to become the global best-selling album of 2024, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The Guardian commented that the album solidified Swift's status as the biggest pop star of the 21st century, and Billboard wrote that her commercial success was beyond any of her peers. By August 2025, it had sold 11 million equivalent units worldwide.
=== United States ===
In the United States, The Tortured Poets Department accumulated 1.6 million album-equivalent units in four days, selling 700,000 vinyl LPs to break the record for the highest single-week vinyl sales in the digital era. It broke the single-week streaming record of Drake's Scorpion (2018), amassing 799 million on-demand streams in six days. The Tortured Poets Department debuted atop the Billboard 200 with first-week tally of 2.61 million units, including 1.914 million pure copies and 891.34 million streams. It became Swift's 14th number-one album, tying her with Jay-Z for the most chart toppers among solo artists. All 31 songs from The Anthology debuted on the Billboard Hot 100; Swift became the female artist with the most chart entries in a single week (32, with "Cruel Summer" also charting), the first female artist to have over 50 songs in the top 10 throughout her career, and the first artist to monopolize the top 14 spots in the same week, led by "Fortnight".
Supported by double-digit variants in digital and CD formats, The Tortured Poets Department spent 17 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. It became the longest-leading chart topper in Swift's career and the first album by a female artist (and third overall) to spend its first 12 weeks atop the chart. Its chart dominance contributed to the number-two peaks of other high-profile albums such as Billie Eilish's Hit Me Hard and Soft, ¥$'s Vultures 2, and Chappell Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Topping the Billboard 200 Year-End of 2024, The Tortured Poets Department was the year's most-consumed album across all metrics in the United States, selling 3.491 million pure copies and amassing 6.955 million units. The album was certified eight-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in September 2025, for surpassing eight million album-equivalent units.
=== Other markets ===
In the English-speaking countries, The Tortured Poets Department is Swift's 14th number-one album in New Zealand, where it became the first album to chart nine songs in the top 10 of the singles chart; 14th in Canada, where it broke the record for the highest vinyl sales week in history; 13th in Australia, where it set the records for the most simultaneous entries by a single artist in the top 10, top 50, and top 100 of the singles chart; and 12th in the United Kingdom, tying her with Madonna for the most number-one albums by a woman. In the United Kingdom, the album registered the biggest sales week by any artist in 7 years and by a non-British artist in 18 years, had the biggest vinyl sales week since 1994, and spent 11 weeks atop the chart, becoming the first album by a non-British artist in the 21st century to spend more than 10 weeks at number one. The Tortured Poets Department became the best-selling album of 2024 in all of the four said countries, and it was certified seven-times platinum in Canada, five-times platinum in New Zealand, and triple platinum in Australia and the United Kingdom.
In continental Europe, The Tortured Poets Department reached number one in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It became the best seller of 2024 in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain (a first for a non-Spanish-speaking artist in the 21st century), and Switzerland. In Germany, it registered the highest streaming day for any album and highest sales week for an international solo artist in seven years. The album was certified double platinum in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain; and triple gold in Germany. In Brazil, 10 tracks from The Tortured Poets Department debuted on the Brasil Hot 100, and The Anthology was certified diamond.
== Critical reception ==
Upon release, The Tortured Poets Department divided music critics; secondary sources described the critical consensus as either positive or mixed. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, The Tortured Poets Department received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 from 24 critic scores, while The Anthology received a weighted average score of 69, from six reviews.
A number of critics regarded the album as a landmark in Swift's discography. Reviews from The Independent's Helen Brown, The Arts Desk's Ellie Roberts, The Times' Dan Cairns, PopMatters's Jeffrey Davies, and Will Harris of Q praised the album as one of Swift's most solid outputs, considering the musical composition, vocal stylings and lyrical tonality as ambitious and tastefully experimental. Others, including Variety's Chris Willman, the i's Ed Power, and The Observer's Kitty Empire, called it a quintessential Swift album containing some of the best songs of her career.
Swift's songwriting was a source of compliment. The Line of Best Fit's Paul Bridgewater dubbed it her most cohesive body of work to date, finding the music sophisticated and the lyricism symbolic. To Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times, the album is a stylistic evolution for Swift, with writing that marks a "characteristically appealing turn" into moody melodrama. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian and Alex Hopper of American Songwriter thought that the album has Swift's wittiest lyrics, featuring nuanced musical choices that show Swift is "willing to take risks in a risk-averse era for pop" and "constantly evolving and pushing her limits", respectively. In a more measured review, Olivia Horn of Pitchfork felt the lyrics did not "distill an overarching emotional truth, tending to smother rather than sting." Others, such as The New York Times' Lindsay Zoladz, Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe, and Exclaim!'s Alex Hudson, described some lyrics as weak and overwritten; Hudson claimed that many of its tracks "mistake verbosity for poetry".
The tumultuous mood and unconstrained emotion of the lyrics were also highlighted. Multiple reviews complimented the album's heavy, unfiltered emotion; Clash's Lauren Webb described it as "a spell-binding, toxic, chaotic illustration" of deteriorating mental sanity. Powers opined that The Tortured Poets Department shows Swift's newfound freedom, with a "lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself". In a similar perspective, rave reviews from Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield and Variety's Chris Willman described the album as Swift's "gloriously chaotic" and "audacious, transfixing" project, respectively. To Willman, the album combines "cleverness with catharsis". Consequence's Mary Siroky, on the other hand, found this style of lyricism jarring and "outright bizarre" at times, and felt the album was an attempt at self-parody rather than a showcase of Swift's songwriting acumen.
Many critics, including Zoladz, NME's Laura Molloy, and Stereogum's Tom Breihan, argued that Swift and Antonoff's collaboration on The Tortured Poets Department was uninventive due to a sonic similarity to their past collaborations. The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich rather favored Dessner's input to the album as "gentler, more tender, and more surprising". Horn and the BBC's Mark Savage felt the melodies were sonically monotonous and "staid", but others argued that the minimalistic approach complemented Swift's hyper-personal lyrics; Hopper opined that "Swift's confidence as an artist is at a peak" with The Tortured Poets Department. According to Mary Kate Carr of The A.V. Club, the album is "perfectly good" but arrived at a time when Swift has "nothing to prove" anymore, resulting in a stagnant point in her artistry; this idea was shared by an anonymous, negative Paste review that criticized the album as rushed, hollow, and unrelatable.
=== Extended commentary ===
Various peer journalists and columnists cross-examined the album's critical reception. Publications considered The Tortured Poets Department a polarizing album; The Ringer's Nathan Hubbard deemed it Swift's most controversial release since Reputation (2017). Journalists from The New York Times and Vox attributed this phenomenon to Swift's heightened fame and associated media overexposure. Paste's anonymous review was singled out by other publications as "scathing"; Sumnima Kandangwa of the South China Morning Post opined that they hid their reviewer's identity because Swifties "can become quite spirited when it comes to protecting their favourite singer". Sputnikmusic published reviews with three different ratings in a short period of time, each lower than the one before; Minh Anh of L'Officiel found this to be a confusing way to rate music. Swift shared the album's positive reviews on her social media, tagging the respective authors, which some considered as a response to Paste and other unfavorable reviews.
A number of commentators opined that the initial reviews demonstrated a flawed approach to mainstream music criticism. Bloomberg News's Jessica Karl wrote that the "lengthy" duration of the album made the reviewers "[stay] up until dawn to finish listening to an album" to publish, contributing to some reviews that were hasty, criticizing both the "exclamation-pointed digs" at Swift in Paste and the "instant classic" review by Rolling Stone. In The Ringer, Nora Princiotti attributed the polarized reviews to the unexpected double album release, and Nathan Hubbard argued that some "cooler-than-thou" critics from sites like The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Paste used Swift's billionaire status to downplay the personal issues she detailed in the album. Karl opined that some "reputable publications" catered to gossip instead of a serious artistic analysis, while Anh highlighted that reviews mentioned aspects of Swift's public image instead of focusing on the music. The New Yorker's Sinéad O'Sullivan asserted that Swift's albums contain multiple layers of self-referential "lore", writing that the unfavorable reviews were due to critics not taking that into account or not allotting enough listening time.
Some early critics of the album recanted and declared they were "hasty" in reviewing it, as per Slate's Chris Molanphy, who opined it has become a "widely agreed point" in later critical commentary that The Tortured Poets Department "grows on you" after more listens; Molanphy stated he liked the album better than he did a week before. CNN's Oliver Darcy said he had judged The Tortured Poets Department quickly, stating that he reviewed it keeping in the mind its mixed critical reception, and found the album overlong and unimpressive in agreement with other critics, but a week later, "after spending more time with the two-hour sonic feast, more methodically touring through its subtleties and nuances, I am ready to declare that it is one of Swift's best works yet." Darcy opined that the album cannot be fully digested at "the speed of TikTok," and criticized reviewers who do not let music albums "marinate" and instead expect "instant satisfaction". People called The Tortured Poets Department Swift's "Most Important Album" and said that it was judged "too soon".
=== Year-end lists ===
== Accolades ==
== Track listing ==
Notes
^[a] signifies a vocal producer
"Loml" and "Imgonnagetyouback" are stylized in all lowercase.
"Thank You Aimee" is stylized as "thanK you aIMee" or "thank You aimEe".
Physical editions of the standard album include either "The Black Dog", "The Albatross", "The Bolter", or "The Manuscript" as a bonus track.
== Personnel ==
Musicians
Technical
== Charts ==
== Certifications ==
== Release history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever | Typhoid fever | Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is an orally contracted disease caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi bacteria, also called Salmonella Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several days. This is commonly accompanied by weakness, abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, and mild vomiting. Some people develop a skin rash with rose colored spots. In severe cases, people may experience confusion. Without treatment, symptoms may last weeks or months. Diarrhea may be severe, but is uncommon. Other people may carry it without being affected, but are still contagious. Typhoid fever is a type of enteric fever, along with paratyphoid fever. Salmonella enterica Typhi is believed to infect and replicate only within humans.
Typhoid is caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi growing in the intestines, Peyer's patches, mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, liver, gallbladder, bone marrow and blood. Typhoid is spread by ingesting food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Risk factors include limited access to clean drinking water and poor sanitation. Those who have not yet been exposed to it and ingest contaminated drinking water or food are most at risk for developing symptoms. Only humans can be infected; there are no known animal reservoirs. Salmonella typhi which causes typhoid fever is different from the other Salmonella bacteria that usually cause salmonellosis, a common type of food poisoning.
Diagnosis is performed by culturing and identifying S. Typhi from patient samples or detecting an immune response to the pathogen from blood samples. Recently, new advances in large-scale data collection and analysis have allowed researchers to develop better diagnostics, such as detecting changing abundances of small molecules in the blood that may specifically indicate typhoid fever. Diagnostic tools in regions where typhoid is most prevalent are quite limited in their accuracy and specificity, and the time required for a proper diagnosis, the increasing spread of antibiotic resistance, and the cost of testing are also hardships for under-resourced healthcare systems.
A typhoid vaccine can prevent about 40–90% of cases during the first two years. The vaccine may have some effect for up to seven years. For those at high risk or people traveling to areas where it is common, vaccination is recommended. Other efforts to prevent it include providing clean drinking water, good sanitation, and handwashing. Until an infection is confirmed as cleared, the infected person should not prepare food for others. Typhoid is treated with antibiotics such as azithromycin, fluoroquinolones, or third-generation cephalosporins. Resistance to these antibiotics has been developing, which has made treatment more difficult.
In 2015, 12.5 million new typhoid cases were reported. The disease is most common in India. Children are most commonly affected. Typhoid decreased in the developed world in the 1940s as a result of improved sanitation and the use of antibiotics. Every year about 400 cases are reported in the U.S. and an estimated 6,000 people have typhoid. In 2015, it resulted in about 149,000 deaths worldwide – down from 181,000 in 1990. Without treatment, the risk of death may be as high as 20%. With treatment, it is between 1% and 4%.
Typhus is a different disease, caused by unrelated species of bacteria. Owing to their similar symptoms, they were not recognized as distinct diseases until the 1800s. "Typhoid" means "resembling typhus".
== Signs and symptoms ==
Classically, the progression of untreated typhoid fever has three distinct stages, each lasting about a week. Over the course of these stages, the patient becomes exhausted and emaciated.
In the first week, the body temperature rises slowly, and fever fluctuations are seen with relative bradycardia (Faget sign), malaise, headache, and cough. A bloody nose (epistaxis) is seen in a quarter of cases, and abdominal pain is also possible. A decrease in the number of circulating white blood cells (leukopenia) occurs with eosinopenia and relative lymphocytosis; blood cultures are positive for S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi. The Widal test is usually negative.
In the second week, the person is often too tired to get up, with high fever in plateau around 39–40.5 °C (102.2–104.9 °F) and bradycardia (sphygmothermic dissociation or Faget sign), classically with a dicrotic pulse wave. Delirium can occur, where the patient is often calm, but sometimes becomes agitated. This delirium has given typhoid the nickname "nervous fever". Rose spots appear on the lower chest and abdomen in around a third of patients. Rhonchi (rattling breathing sounds) are heard in the base of the lungs. The abdomen is distended and painful in the right lower quadrant, where a rumbling sound can be heard. Diarrhea can occur in this stage, but constipation is also common. The spleen and liver are enlarged (hepatosplenomegaly) and tender, and liver transaminases are elevated. The Widal test is strongly positive, with antiO and antiH antibodies. Blood cultures are sometimes still positive.
In the third week of typhoid fever, possible complications include:
The fever is still very high and oscillates very little over 24 hours. Dehydration ensues along with malnutrition, and the patient is delirious. A third of affected people develop a macular rash on the trunk.
Intestinal haemorrhage due to bleeding in congested Peyer's patches occurs; this can be very serious but is usually not fatal.
Intestinal perforation in the distal ileum is a critical complication and often fatal. It may occur without alarming symptoms until sepsis or diffuse peritonitis sets in.
Respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and acute bronchitis
Encephalitis
Neuropsychiatric symptoms (described as "muttering delirium" or "coma vigil"), with picking at bedclothes or imaginary objects.
Metastatic abscesses, cholecystitis, endocarditis, and osteitis.
Low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) is sometimes seen.
== Causes ==
=== Bacteria ===
The Gram-negative bacterium that causes typhoid fever is Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi. Based on the MLST subtyping scheme, the two main sequence types of the S. Typhi are ST1 and ST2, which are widespread globally. Global phylogeographical analysis showed dominance of a haplotype 58 (H58), which probably originated in India during the late 1980s and is now spreading through the world with multi-drug resistance. A more detailed genotyping scheme was reported in 2016 and is now widely used. This scheme reclassified the nomenclature of H58 to genotype 4.3.1.
=== Transmission ===
Unlike other strains of Salmonella, humans are the only known typhoid carriers. S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi is spread by the fecal-oral route from people who are infected and from asymptomatic carriers of the bacterium. An asymptomatic human carrier is someone who is still excreting typhoid bacteria in stool a year after the acute stage of the infection.
== Diagnosis ==
Diagnosis is made by any blood, bone marrow, or stool cultures and with the Widal test (demonstration of antibodies against Salmonella antigens O-somatic and H-flagellar). In epidemics and less wealthy countries, after excluding malaria, dysentery, or pneumonia, a therapeutic trial time with chloramphenicol is generally undertaken while awaiting the results of the Widal test and blood and stool cultures.
=== Widal test ===
The Widal test is used to identify specific antibodies in the serum of people with typhoid by using antigen-antibody interactions.
In this test, the serum is mixed with a dead bacterial suspension of Salmonella with specific antigens. If the patient's serum contains antibodies against those antigens, they get attached to them, forming clumps. If clumping does not occur, the test is negative. The Widal test is time-consuming and prone to significant false positives. It may also be falsely negative in recently infected people. But unlike the Typhidot test, the Widal test quantifies the specimen with titres.
=== Rapid diagnostic tests ===
Rapid diagnostic tests such as Tubex, Typhidot, and Test-It have shown moderate diagnostic accuracy.
==== Typhidot ====
Typhidot is based on the presence of specific IgM and IgG antibodies to a specific 50Kd OMP antigen. This test is carried out on a cellulose nitrate membrane where a specific S. typhi outer membrane protein is attached as fixed test lines. It separately identifies IgM and IgG antibodies. IgM shows recent infection; IgG signifies remote infection.The sample pad of this kit contains colloidal gold-anti-human IgG or gold-anti-human IgM. If the sample contains IgG and IgM antibodies against those antigens, they will react and turn red. The typhidot test becomes positive within 2–3 days of infection.
Two colored bands indicate a positive test. A single control band indicates a negative test. A single first fixed line or no band at all indicates an invalid test. Typhidot's biggest limitation is that it is not quantitative, just positive or negative.
==== Tubex test ====
The Tubex test contains two types of particles: brown magnetic particles coated with antigen and blue indicator particles coated with O9 antibody. During the test, if antibodies are present in the serum, they will attach to the brown magnetic particles and settle at the base, while the blue indicator particles remain in the solution, producing a blue color, which means the test is positive.
If the serum does not have an antibody in it, the blue particles attach to the brown particles and settle at the bottom, producing a colorless solution, which means the test is negative.
== Prevention ==
Sanitation and hygiene are important to prevent typhoid. It can spread only in environments where human feces can come into contact with food or drinking water. Careful food preparation and washing of hands are crucial to prevent typhoid. Industrialization contributed greatly to the elimination of typhoid fever, as it eliminated the public health hazards associated with having horse manure in public streets, which led to a large number of flies, which are vectors of many pathogens, including Salmonella spp. According to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the chlorination of drinking water has led to dramatic decreases in the transmission of typhoid fever.
=== Vaccination ===
Two typhoid vaccines are licensed for use in the prevention of typhoid: the live, oral Ty21a vaccine (sold as Vivotif by Crucell Switzerland AG) and the injectable typhoid polysaccharide vaccine (sold as Typhim Vi by Sanofi Pasteur and Typherix by GlaxoSmithKline). Both are efficacious and recommended for travelers to areas where typhoid is endemic. Boosters are recommended every five years for the oral vaccine and every two years for the injectable form. An older, killed whole-cell vaccine is still used in countries where the newer preparations are not available, but this vaccine is no longer recommended for use because it has more side effects (mainly pain and inflammation at the site of the injection).
To help decrease rates of typhoid fever in developing nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the use of a vaccination program starting in 1999. Vaccination has proven effective at controlling outbreaks in high-incidence areas and is also very cost-effective: prices are normally less than US$1 per dose. Because the price is low, poverty-stricken communities are more willing to take advantage of the vaccinations. Although vaccination programs for typhoid have proven effective, they alone cannot eliminate typhoid fever. Combining vaccines with public health efforts is the only proven way to control this disease.
Since the 1990s, the WHO has recommended two typhoid fever vaccines. The ViPS vaccine is given by injection and the Ty21a by capsules. Only people over age two are recommended to be vaccinated with the ViPS vaccine, and it requires a revaccination after 2–3 years, with a 55–72% efficacy. The Ty21a vaccine is recommended for people five and older, lasting 5–7 years with 51–67% efficacy. The two vaccines have proved safe and effective for epidemic disease control in multiple regions.
A version of the vaccine combined with a hepatitis A vaccine is also available.
Results of a phase 3 trial of typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) in December 2019 reported 81% fewer cases among children.
== Treatment ==
Treatment for typhoid fever is most effective if started early.
=== Oral rehydration therapy ===
The rediscovery of oral rehydration therapy in the 1960s provided a simple way to prevent many of the deaths of diarrheal diseases in general.
=== Antibiotics ===
Where resistance is uncommon, the treatment of choice is a fluoroquinolone such as ciprofloxacin. Otherwise, a third-generation cephalosporin such as ceftriaxone or cefotaxime is the first choice. Cefixime is a suitable oral alternative.
Properly treated, typhoid fever is not fatal in most cases. Antibiotics such as ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin, and ciprofloxacin have been commonly used to treat it. Treatment with antibiotics reduces the case-fatality rate to about 1%.
Without treatment, some patients develop sustained fever, bradycardia, hepatosplenomegaly, abdominal symptoms, and occasionally pneumonia. In white-skinned patients, pink spots, which fade on pressure, appear on the skin of the trunk in up to 20% of cases. In the third week, untreated cases may develop gastrointestinal and cerebral complications, which may prove fatal in 10–20% of cases. The highest case fatality rates are reported in children under 4. Around 2–5% of those who contract typhoid fever become chronic carriers, as bacteria persist in the biliary tract after symptoms have resolved.
=== Surgery ===
Surgery is usually indicated if intestinal perforation occurs. One study found a 30-day mortality rate of 9% (8/88), and surgical site infections at 67% (59/88), with the disease burden borne predominantly by low-resource countries.
For surgical treatment, most surgeons prefer simple closure of the perforation with drainage of the peritoneum. Small bowel resection is indicated for patients with multiple perforations. If antibiotic treatment fails to eradicate the hepatobiliary carriage, the gallbladder should be resected. Cholecystectomy is sometimes successful, especially in patients with gallstones, but is not always successful in eradicating the carrier state because of persisting hepatic infection.
=== Resistance ===
As resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and streptomycin is now common, these agents are no longer used as first-line treatment of typhoid fever. Typhoid resistant to these agents is known as multidrug-resistant typhoid.
Ciprofloxacin resistance is an increasing problem, especially in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many centres are shifting from ciprofloxacin to ceftriaxone as the first line for treating suspected typhoid originating in South America, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, or Vietnam. Also, it has been suggested that azithromycin is better at treating resistant typhoid than both fluoroquinolone drugs and ceftriaxone. Azithromycin can be taken by mouth and is less expensive than ceftriaxone, which is given by injection.
A separate problem exists with laboratory testing for reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin; current recommendations are that isolates should be tested simultaneously against ciprofloxacin (CIP) and against nalidixic acid (NAL), that isolates sensitive to both CIP and NAL should be reported as "sensitive to ciprofloxacin", and that isolates sensitive to CIP but not to NAL should be reported as "reduced sensitivity to ciprofloxacin". But an analysis of 271 isolates found that around 18% of isolates with reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones, the class to which CIP belongs (MIC 0.125–1.0 mg/L), would not be detected by this method.
== Epidemiology ==
In 2000, typhoid fever caused an estimated 21.7 million illnesses and 217,000 deaths. It occurs most often in children and young adults between 5 and 19 years old. In 2013, it resulted in about 161,000 deaths – down from 181,000 in 1990. Infants, children, and adolescents in south-central and Southeast Asia have the highest rates of typhoid. Outbreaks are also often reported in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In 2000, more than 90% of morbidity and mortality due to typhoid fever occurred in Asia. In the U.S., about 400 cases occur each year, 75% of which are acquired while traveling internationally.
Before the antibiotic era, the case fatality rate of typhoid fever was 10–20%. Today, with prompt treatment, it is less than 1%, but 3–5% of people who are infected develop a chronic infection in the gall bladder. Since S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi is human-restricted, these chronic carriers become the crucial reservoir, which can persist for decades for further spread of the disease, further complicating its identification and treatment. Lately, the study of S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi associated with a large outbreak and a carrier at the genome level provides new insight into the pathogenesis of the pathogen.
In industrialized nations, water sanitation and food handling improvements have reduced the number of typhoid cases. Third world nations have the highest rates. People in these areas often lack access to clean water, proper sanitation systems, and proper healthcare facilities. In these areas, such access to basic public-health needs is not expected in the near future.
In 2004–2005, an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo resulted in more than 42,000 cases and 214 deaths. Since November 2016, Pakistan has had an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid fever.
In Europe, a report based on data for 2017 retrieved from The European Surveillance System (TESSy) on the distribution of confirmed typhoid and paratyphoid fever cases found that 22 EU/EEA countries reported a total of 1,098 cases, 90.9% of which were travel-related, mainly acquired during travel to South Asia.
=== Outbreaks ===
Plague of Athens (suspected)
Cocoliztli epidemics (suspected)
"Burning Fever" outbreak among indigenous Americans. Between 1607 and 1624, 85% of the population at the James River died from a typhoid epidemic. The World Health Organization estimates the death toll was over 6,000 during this time.
Maidstone, Kent outbreak in 1897–1898: 1,847 patients were recorded to have typhoid fever. This outbreak is notable because it was the first time a typhoid vaccine was deployed during a civilian outbreak. Almoth Edward Wright's vaccine was offered to 200 healthcare providers, and of the 84 individuals who received the vaccine, none developed typhoid whereas 4 who had not been vaccinated became ill.
American army in the Spanish-American war: government records estimate over 21,000 troops had typhoid, resulting in 2,200 deaths.
In 1902, guests at mayoral banquets in Southampton and Winchester, England became ill and four died, including the Dean of Winchester, after consuming oysters. The infection was due to oysters sourced from Emsworth, where the oyster beds had been contaminated with raw sewage.
Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Boston in 1908 – linked to milk delivery. See the history section, "carriers" for further details.
Outbreak in upper-class New Yorkers who employed Mary Mallon – 51 cases and 3 deaths from 1907 to 1915.
Aberdeen, Scotland, in summer 1964 – traced back to contaminated canned beef sourced from Argentina sold in markets. More than 500 patients were quarantined in the hospital for a minimum of four weeks, and the outbreak was contained without any deaths.
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 1996–1997: 10,677 cases reported, 108 deaths.
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2004: 43,000 cases and over 200 deaths. A prospective study of specimens collected in the same region between 2007 and 2011 revealed about one-third of samples obtained from patient samples were resistant to multiple antibiotics.
Kampala, Uganda in 2015: 10,230 cases reported.
== History ==
=== Early descriptions ===
The plague of Athens, during the Peloponnesian War, was most likely an outbreak of typhoid fever. During the war, Athenians retreated into a walled-in city to escape attack from the Spartans. This massive influx of humans into a concentrated space overwhelmed the water supply and waste infrastructure, likely leading to unsanitary conditions as fresh water became harder to obtain and waste became more difficult to collect and remove beyond the city walls. In 2006, examining the remains of a mass burial site from Athens from around the time of the plague (~430 B.C.) revealed that fragments of DNA similar to that of modern-day S. Typhi were detected, whereas Yersinia pestis (plague), Rickettsia prowazekii (typhus), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, cowpox virus, and Bartonella henselae were not detected in any of the remains tested.
=== Definition and evidence of transmission ===
The French doctors Pierre-Fidele Bretonneau and Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis are credited with describing typhoid fever as a specific disease, unique from typhus. Both doctors performed autopsies on individuals who died in Paris due to fever – and indicated that many had lesions on the Peyer's patches which correlated with distinct symptoms before death. British medics were skeptical of the differentiation between typhoid and typhus because both were endemic to Britain at that time. However, in France, only typhoid was present circulating in the population. Pierre-Charlles-Alexandre Louis also performed case studies and statistical analysis to demonstrate that typhoid was contagious – and that persons who already had the disease seemed to be protected. Afterward, several American doctors confirmed these findings, and then Sir William Jenner convinced any remaining skeptics that typhoid is a specific disease recognizable by lesions in the Peyer's patches by examining sixty-six autopsies from fever patients and concluding that the symptoms of headaches, diarrhea, rash spots, and abdominal pain were present only in patients who were found to have intestinal lesions after death; these observations solidified the association of the disease with the intestinal tract and gave the first clue to the route of transmission.
In 1847, William Budd learned of an epidemic of typhoid fever in Clifton, and identified that all 13 of 34 residents who had contracted the disease drew their drinking water from the same well. Notably, this observation was two years before John Snow first published an early version of his theory that contaminated water was the central conduit for transmitting cholera. Budd later became health officer of Bristol ensured a clean water supply, and documented further evidence of typhoid as a water-borne illness throughout his career.
=== Cause ===
Polish scientist Tadeusz Browicz described a short bacillus in the organs and feces of typhoid victims in 1874. Browicz was able to isolate and grow the bacilli but did not go as far as to insinuate or prove that they caused the disease.
In April 1880, three months before Eberth's publication, Edwin Klebs described short and filamentous bacilli in the Peyer's patches in typhoid victims. The bacterium's role in disease was speculated but not confirmed.
In 1880, Karl Joseph Eberth described a bacillus that he suspected was the cause of typhoid. Eberth is given credit for discovering the bacterium definitively by successfully isolating the same bacterium from 18 of 40 typhoid victims and failing to discover the bacterium present in any "control" victims of other diseases. In 1884, pathologist Georg Theodor August Gaffky (1850–1918) confirmed Eberth's findings. Gaffky isolated the same bacterium as Eberth from the spleen of a typhoid victim, and was able to grow the bacterium on solid media. The organism was given names such as Eberth's bacillus, Eberthella Typhi, and Gaffky-Eberth bacillus. Today, the bacillus that causes typhoid fever goes by the scientific name Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi.
=== Chlorination of water ===
Most developed countries had declining rates of typhoid fever throughout the first half of the 20th century due to vaccinations and advances in public sanitation and hygiene. In 1893, attempts were made to chlorinate the water supply in Hamburg, Germany, and in 1897 Maidstone, England, was the first town to have its entire water supply chlorinated. In 1905, following an outbreak of typhoid fever, the City of Lincoln, England, instituted permanent water chlorination. The first permanent disinfection of drinking water in the US was made in 1908 to the Jersey City, New Jersey, water supply. Credit for the decision to build the chlorination system has been given to John L. Leal. The chlorination facility was designed by George W. Fuller.
Outbreaks in traveling military groups led to the creation of the Lyster bag in 1915: a bag with a faucet that can be hung from a tree or pole, filled with water, and comes with a chlorination tablet to drop into the water. The Lyster bag was essential for the survival of American soldiers in the Vietnam War.
=== Direct transmission and carriers ===
There were several occurrences of milk delivery men spreading typhoid fever throughout the communities they served. Although typhoid is not spread through milk itself, there were several examples of milk distributors in many locations watering their milk down with contaminated water, or cleaning the glass bottles the milk was placed in with contaminated water. Boston had two such cases around the turn of the 20th century. In 1899, there were 24 cases of typhoid traced to a single milkman, whose wife had died of typhoid fever a week before the outbreak. In 1908, J.J. Fallon, who was also a milkman, died of typhoid fever. Following his death and confirmation of the typhoid fever diagnosis, the city conducted an investigation of typhoid symptoms and cases along his route and found evidence of a significant outbreak. A month after the outbreak was first reported, the Boston Globe published a short statement declaring the outbreak over, stating "[a]t Jamaica Plain there is a slight increase, the total being 272 cases. Throughout the city, there is a total of 348 cases." There was at least one death reported during this outbreak: Mrs. Sophia S. Engstrom, aged 46. Typhoid continued to ravage the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in particular throughout 1908, and several more people were reported dead due to typhoid fever, although these cases were not explicitly linked to the outbreak. The Jamaica Plain neighborhood at that time was home to many working-class and poor immigrants, mostly from Ireland.
The most notorious carrier of typhoid fever, but by no means the most destructive, was Mary Mallon, known as Typhoid Mary. Although other cases of human-to-human spread of typhoid were known at the time, the concept of an asymptomatic carrier, who was able to transmit disease, had only been hypothesized and not yet identified or proven. Mary Mallon became the first known example of an asymptomatic carrier of an infectious disease, making typhoid fever the first known disease being transmissible through asymptomatic hosts. The cases and deaths caused by Mallon were mainly upper-class families in New York City. At the time of Mallon's tenure as a personal cook for upper-class families, New York City reported 3,000 to 4,500 cases of typhoid fever annually. In the summer of 1906, two daughters of a wealthy family and maids working in their home became ill with typhoid fever. After investigating their home water sources and ruling out water contamination, the family hired civil engineer George Soper to conduct an investigation of the possible source of typhoid fever in the home. Soper described himself as an "epidemic fighter". His investigation ruled out many sources of food, and led him to question if the cook the family hired just prior to their household outbreak, Mallon, was the source. Since she had already left and begun employment elsewhere, he proceeded to track her down in order to obtain a stool sample. When he was able to finally meet Mallon in person he described her by saying "Mary had a good figure and might have been called athletic had she not been a little too heavy." In recounts of Soper's pursuit of Mallon, his only remorse appears to be that he was not given enough credit for his relentless pursuit and publication of her personal identifying information, stating that the media "rob[s] me of whatever credit belongs to the discovery of the first typhoid fever carrier to be found in America." Ultimately, 51 cases and 3 deaths were suspected to be caused by Mallon.
In 1924, the city of Portland, Oregon, experienced an outbreak of typhoid fever, consisting of 26 cases and 5 deaths, all deaths due to intestinal hemorrhage. All cases were concluded to be due to a single milk farm worker, who was shedding large amounts of the typhoid pathogen in his urine. Misidentification of the disease, due to inaccurate Widal test results, delayed identification of the carrier and proper treatment. Ultimately, it took four samplings of different secretions from all of the dairy workers in order to successfully identify the carrier. Upon discovery, the dairy worker was forcibly quarantined for seven weeks, and regular samples were taken, most of the time the stool samples yielding no typhoid and often the urine yielding the pathogen. The carrier was reported as being 72 years old and appearing in excellent health with no symptoms. Pharmaceutical treatment decreased the amount of bacteria secreted, however, the infection was never fully cleared from the urine, and the carrier was released "under orders never again to engage in the handling of foods for human consumption." At the time of release, the authors noted "for more than fifty years he has earned his living chiefly by milking cows and knows little of other forms of labor, it must be expected that the closest surveillance will be necessary to make certain that he does not again engage in this occupation."
Overall, in the early 20th century the medical profession began to identify disease carriers and evidence of transmission independent of water contamination. In a 1933 American Medical Association publication, physicians' treatment of asymptomatic carriers is best summarized by the opening line "Carriers of typhoid bacilli are a menace". Within the same publication, the first official estimate of typhoid carriers is given: 2–5% of all typhoid patients, and distinguished between temporary carriers and chronic carriers. The authors further estimate that there are four to five chronic female carriers to every one male carrier, although offered no data to explain this assertion of a gender difference in the rate of typhoid carriers. As far as treatment, the authors suggest: "When recognized, carriers must be instructed as to the disposal of excreta as well as to the importance of personal cleanliness. They should be forbidden to handle food or drink intended for others, and their movements and whereabouts must be reported to the public health officers".
Today, typhoid carriers exist all over the world, but the highest incidence of asymptomatic infection is likely to occur in South/Southeast Asian and Sub-Saharan countries. The Los Angeles County department of public health tracks typhoid carriers and reports the number of carriers identified within the county yearly; between 2006 and 2016 0–4 new cases of typhoid carriers were identified per year. Cases of typhoid fever must be reported within one working day from identification. As of 2018, chronic typhoid carriers must sign a "Carrier Agreement" and are required to test for typhoid shedding twice yearly, ideally every 6 months. Carriers may be released from their agreements upon fulfilling "release" requirements, based on completion of a personalized treatment plan designed with medical professionals. Fecal or gallbladder carrier release requirements: 6 consecutive negative feces and urine specimens submitted at 1-month or greater intervals beginning at least 7 days after completion of therapy. Urinary or kidney carrier release requirements: 6 consecutive negative urine specimens submitted at 1-month or greater intervals beginning at least 7 days after completion of therapy.
Due to the nature of asymptomatic cases, many questions remain about how individuals can tolerate infection for long periods, how to identify such cases, and efficient options for treatment. Researchers are working to understand asymptomatic infection with Salmonella species by studying infections in laboratory animals, which will ultimately lead to improved prevention and treatment options for typhoid carriers. In 2002, John Gunn described the ability of Salmonella sp. to form biofilms on gallstones in mice, providing a model for studying carriage in the gallbladder. Denise Monack and Stanley Falkow described a mouse model of asymptomatic intestinal and systemic infection in 2004, and Monack went on to demonstrate that a subpopulation of superspreaders are responsible for the majority of transmission to new hosts, following the 80/20 rule of disease transmission, and that the intestinal microbiota likely plays a role in transmission. Monack's mouse model allows long-term carriage of Salmonella in mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen and liver.
=== Vaccine development ===
British bacteriologist Almroth Edward Wright first developed an effective typhoid vaccine at the Army Medical School in Netley, Hampshire. It was introduced in 1896 and used successfully by the British during the Second Boer War in South Africa. At that time, typhoid often killed more soldiers at war than were lost due to enemy combat. Wright further developed his vaccine at a newly opened research department at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London in 1902, where he established a method for measuring protective substances (opsonin) in human blood. Wright's version of the typhoid vaccine was produced by growing the bacterium at body temperature in broth, then heating the bacteria to 60 °C to "heat inactivate" the pathogen, killing it, while keeping the surface antigens intact. The heat-killed bacteria was then injected into a patient. To show evidence of the vaccine's efficacy, Wright then collected serum samples from patients several weeks post-vaccination, and tested their serum's ability to agglutinate live typhoid bacteria. A "positive" result was represented by clumping of bacteria, indicating that the body was producing anti-serum (now called antibodies) against the pathogen.
Citing the example of the Second Boer War, during which many soldiers died from easily preventable diseases, Wright convinced the British Army that 10 million vaccine doses should be produced for the troops being sent to the Western Front, thereby saving up to half a million lives during World War I. The British Army was the only combatant at the outbreak of the war to have its troops fully immunized against the bacterium. For the first time, their casualties due to combat exceeded those from disease.
In 1909, Frederick F. Russell, a U.S. Army physician, adopted Wright's typhoid vaccine for use with the Army, and two years later, his vaccination program became the first in which an entire army was immunized. It eliminated typhoid as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. military. Typhoid vaccination for members of the American military became mandatory in 1911. Before the vaccine, the rate of typhoid fever in the military was 14,000 or greater per 100,000 soldiers. By World War I, the rate of typhoid in American soldiers was 37 per 100,000.
During the Second World War, the United States Army authorized the use of a trivalent vaccine – containing heat-inactivated Typhoid, Paratyphi A and Paratyphi B pathogens.
In 1934, the discovery of the Vi capsular antigen by Arthur Felix and Miss S. R. Margaret Pitt enabled the development of the safer Vi Antigen vaccine – which is widely in use today. Arthur Felix and Margaret Pitt also isolated the strain Ty2, which became the parent strain of Ty21a, the strain used as a live-attenuated vaccine for typhoid fever today.
=== Antibiotics and resistance ===
Chloramphenicol was isolated from Streptomyces by David Gotlieb during the 1940s. In 1948, American army doctors tested its efficacy in treating typhoid patients in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Individuals who received a full course of treatment cleared the infection, whereas patients given a lower dose had a relapse. Asymptomatic carriers continued to shed bacilli despite chloramphenicol treatment – only ill patients were improved with chloramphenicol. Resistance to chloramphenicol became frequent in Southeast Asia by the 1950s, and today chloramphenicol is only used as a last resort due to the high prevalence of resistance.
== Terminology ==
The disease has been referred to by various names, often associated with symptoms, such as gastric fever, enteric fever, abdominal typhus, infantile remittent fever, slow fever, nervous fever, phytogenic fever, drain fever, and low fever.
== Society and culture ==
=== Notable people ===
Emperor Augustus of Rome – suspected based on historical record but not confirmed. He had either a liver abscess or typhoid fever, and survived by using ice baths and cold compresses as a means of treatment for his fever. The idea for this treatment was provided by Greek physician Antonius Musa.
Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, died 24 days after the first record of "feeling horribly ill". Died 14 December 1861 after suffering loss of appetite, insomnia, fever, chills, profuse sweating, vomiting, rash spots, delusions, inability to recognize family members, worsening rash on abdomen, a change in tongue color, then finally a state of extreme fatigue. Attending physician William Jenner, an expert on typhoid fever at the time, diagnosed him.
Edward VII of the UK, son of Queen Victoria, while still Prince of Wales, had a near-fatal case of typhoid fever.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, survived, illness was circa 1900–1901.
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands may have had an abortion in 1902 because of a typhoid infection she survived.
William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States of America, died 32 days into his term, in 1841. This is the shortest term served by a United States President.
Wilbur Wright, co-inventor of the airplane with his brother Orville, died from typhoid in 1912 at the age of 45. Orville had typhoid in 1896, during which time Wilbur would read aloud to him, books by Otto Lilienthal, a German pioneer in human flight. This started the two men on their own pursuit of creating an airplane.
Stephen A. Douglas, a political opponent of Abraham Lincoln in 1858 and 1860, died of typhoid on 3 June 1861.
Ignacio Zaragoza, a Mexican general and politician, died at the age of 33 of typhoid fever on 8 September 1862.
Franz Schubert, songwriter and composer died of typhoid at age 31 on 19 November 1828.
William Wallace Lincoln, the son of US president Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, died at the age of 11 years of typhoid in 1862.
Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, daughter of Emperor Pedro II, died of typhoid in 1871.
Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, mother of president Theodore Roosevelt and paternal grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt, died of typhoid fever in 1884.
Mary Mallon, "Typhoid Mary" – see history section, "carriers" for further details
Leland Stanford Jr., son of American tycoon and politician A. Leland Stanford and eponym of Leland Stanford Junior University, died of typhoid fever in 1884 at the age of 15.
Three of Louis Pasteur's five children died of typhoid fever.
Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English poet, died of typhoid fever in 1889.
Lizzie van Zyl, South African child inmate of the Bloemfontein concentration camp during the Second Boer War, died of typhoid fever in 1901.
Dr HJH 'Tup' Scott, captain of the 1886 Australian cricket team that toured England, died of typhoid in 1910.
Arnold Bennett, English novelist, died in 1932 of typhoid, two months after drinking a glass of water in a Paris hotel to prove it was safe.
Hakaru Hashimoto, a Japanese medical scientist, died of typhoid fever in 1934.
John Buford, Union cavalry officer during the Civil War, died of typhoid fever on 16 December 1863. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XXIX#:~:text=The%2049ers%20defeated%20the%20Chargers,ravaged%20the%20city%20in%201992. | Super Bowl XXIX#:~:text=The 49ers defeated the Chargers,ravaged the city in 1992. | Super Bowl XXIX was an American football championship game featuring an all-California matchup between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1994 season. The 49ers defeated the Chargers by a score of 49–26, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowl championships. The game was played on January 29, 1995, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida. As of 2026, this is the last Super Bowl to feature two teams from the same state.
With 49ers quarterback Steve Young at the helm and a defense consisting of several veteran free agents who joined the team during the previous offseason, San Francisco finished the regular season with a league-best 13–3 record, and led the league in total points scored (505). The Chargers, on the other hand, were regarded as a "Cinderella" team, and advanced to their first Super Bowl after posting an 11–5 regular-season record and overcoming halftime deficits in both of their playoff wins.
This was the first Super Bowl in which both teams scored in all four quarters. The combined aggregate score of 75 points and the ten total touchdowns both remain Super Bowl records. Still, the 49ers controlled most of the game, with Young completing touchdown passes in each of the 49ers' first two drives. The Chargers were able to cut the deficit late in the first quarter, 14–7, on a 13-play, 78-yard drive, but could not slow down San Francisco afterwards. Young was named the Super Bowl MVP, throwing a Super Bowl-record six touchdown passes, and completing 24 out of 36 passes for 325 yards.
Despite the predicted blowout (18.5-point is the second largest margin a team has been favored by in a Super Bowl), the fact that San Diego did not have as much national appeal nor a relatively large core fan base, and two teams from California playing, which could have significantly diminished interest along the East Coast, the telecast of the game on ABC still had a Nielsen rating of 41.3.
== Background ==
=== Host selection process ===
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXIX to Miami during their May 23, 1991 meeting in Minneapolis. Three cities presented bids: Miami (Joe Robbie Stadium), Tampa (Tampa Stadium), and Houston (Astrodome). New Orleans pulled out of the running early on due to conflicts with other conventions. Houston was considered an early favorite, since they had not hosted the game since 1974. However, the Astrodome would need to add approximately 10,000 temporary seats in order to meet the NFL's capacity requirement of 70,000.
Rules required a candidate to receive a 3⁄4 vote (21 of 28 owners) in order to win the bidding. Tampa was eliminated on the first ballot, having just hosted XXV, along with their lack of premium seating. Then neither Miami nor Houston managed to get 21 votes on the second ballot or on the third ballot. For the fourth ballot, the threshold was reduced to a simple majority. In what was said to be a close vote, Miami was selected as the host. It marked the seventh time overall the Miami-area hosted the Super Bowl, and the second time it was played in Joe Robbie Stadium.
=== San Diego Chargers ===
San Diego suffered losing seasons in the 1980s until former Washington Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard joined the team in 1990. Beathard decided to rebuild the Chargers using the same model that he used to build the Redskins into Super Bowl contenders during the 1980s: a powerful running game built around big linemen, a passing game that helped sustain extremely long drives, and a bending but steady defense. After former Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Ross was hired by the Chargers in 1992, the team won the AFC West with an 11–5 regular season record and won an opening round playoff game against Kansas City. But in 1993, they slumped back to 8–8 and did not reach the postseason.
Before the start of the 1994 season, San Diego was not expected to do well because they had so many newcomers via the draft and free agency; the Chargers ended up with 22 new players on their roster, and 10 of them became starters. However, they ended up winning their first six regular season games en route to an 11–5 record, the AFC West championship, and the #2 AFC playoff seed. The Chargers went into the final game of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers needing a win to get the #2 seed (a loss would have given that spot to the Miami Dolphins), which came with a first-round bye and a home game in the divisional round of the playoffs. Backup quarterback Gale Gilbert, subbing for injured starter Stan Humphries, led the Chargers to a come-from-behind 37–34 win, with John Carney kicking a game-winning field goal in the game's final seconds.
The Chargers' offense was led by quarterback Stan Humphries, who was the Redskins' backup to Mark Rypien during the 1991 season, when they won Super Bowl XXVI. During the 1994 season for San Diego, Humphries completed 264 out of 453 attempts for 3,209 yards and 17 touchdowns, with 12 interceptions. Wide receiver Mark Seay was the team's leading receiver with 58 receptions for 645 yards and 6 touchdowns. Wide receiver Tony Martin had 50 catches for 885 yards and 7 touchdowns, wide receiver Shawn Jefferson recorded 43 catches for 627 yards and 3 touchdowns, and tight end Alfred Pupunu had 21 receptions for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Running back Natrone Means led the team in rushing with 1,350 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also recorded 39 receptions for 235 yards, and was named to the Pro Bowl. Third-down back Ronnie Harmon was also a big contributor, catching 58 passes for 615 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, the Chargers' special teams was also a major threat with Andre Coleman, who returned 49 kickoffs for 1,293 yards (26.4 average yards per return) and 2 touchdowns.
The Chargers had an excellent defensive line, anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Leslie O'Neal, who led the team with 12.5 sacks and forced four fumbles, defensive tackle Chris Mims, who recorded 11 sacks, and Shawn Lee, who added 6.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Their linebacking corps was led by Junior Seau, who was a Pro Bowl selection for the fourth consecutive year, recording 123 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and 3 fumble recoveries. Defensive back Stanley Richard was a major weapon in the secondary, recording 4 interceptions, 224 return yards, and 2 touchdowns. Defensive back Darrien Gordon was also a major asset to the team, recording 4 interceptions and 32 return yards, while also adding another 475 yards and 2 touchdowns returning punts. Safety Rodney Harrison was a rookie on the team.
Chargers backup quarterback Gale Gilbert became the first player to be a member of five consecutive Super Bowl teams. He had been a third-string quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, who had won AFC Championships in the four previous seasons (1990–1993).
=== San Francisco 49ers ===
From the 1988 to the 1993 seasons, the 49ers played in five out of six NFC Championship Games, winning Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV. But after head coach George Seifert's team lost two consecutive NFC Championship games to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and 1993, San Francisco brought in several veteran free agents to strengthen their defense. Among the players signed were defensive linemen Richard Dent (the MVP of Super Bowl XX), Charles Mann, Rhett Hall, and Rickey Jackson; linebackers Ken Norton Jr. and Gary Plummer; and cornerback Deion Sanders.
The free agents enabled the 49ers to jump from the 18th-ranked defense in the league to the 8th, and to jump from the league's 16th-best defense against the run to the 2nd. Pro Bowl defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield led the team with 8.5 sacks. Rookie defensive tackle Bryant Young was also a big threat to opposing quarterbacks and rushers, recording 42 tackles, 6 sacks, and a fumble recovery. Behind them, Norton played very effectively at the middle linebacker position, leading the team with 77 tackles and recording an interception. Pro Bowl safety Merton Hanks led the team with 7 interceptions for 93 return yards, while Sanders had 6 interceptions for 303 return yards and 3 touchdowns, earning him the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. His 303 return yards was the third-highest total in NFL history, while his touchdown returns of 74, 93, and 90 yards made him the first player ever to have two 90-yard interception returns in one season. Pro Bowl safety Tim McDonald was also a big contributor, recording 2 interceptions for 79 yards and a touchdown.
The 49ers' offense was led by quarterback Steve Young, who replaced future Hall of Famer Joe Montana as the starter in 1991 and 1992 due to injuries. After Young led the league in passing in both seasons, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, leaving Young as the undisputed starter in 1993. But even with his impressive passing statistics, Young was criticized as "not being able to win the big games" as Montana had done in leading the 49ers to Super Bowl victories in XVI, XIX, XXIII, and XXIV. It also didn't help that the team had lost to Montana's Chiefs 24–17 during the regular season.
Still, Young again led the league in passing during the 1994 regular season with a passer rating of 112.8, breaking Montana's record for the highest regular season rating in NFL history. Young recorded 324 out of 461 completions for 3,969 yards, 35 touchdowns, and just 10 interceptions. He also had 58 rushes for 293 yards and 7 touchdowns, and earned the NFL Most Valuable Player Award.
With Young at the helm, the 49ers led the league in total points scored (505) and helped them earn a league best 13–3 regular season record. Pro Bowl running back Ricky Watters was the team's leading rusher with 877 yards and 6 touchdowns, while also recording 66 receptions for 719 yards and 5 touchdowns. Rookie fullback William Floyd was the team's second-leading rusher with 305 yards and 6 touchdowns, while also having 19 receptions for 145 yards. The team's leading receiver was Pro Bowl wide receiver Jerry Rice, who had 112 catches for 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also gaining 93 yards and two more touchdowns rushing the ball. Receiver John Taylor was also a reliable target, catching 41 passes for 531 yards and 5 touchdowns. Pro Bowl tight end Brent Jones added 49 receptions for 670 yards and 9 touchdowns. The offensive line was led by Pro Bowl center Bart Oates, another offseason free agent pickup, and Pro Bowl guard Jesse Sapolu.
Running back Dexter Carter had a standout season as a returner on special teams, gaining a combined total of 1,426 yards and a touchdown returning both punts and kickoffs.
=== Playoffs ===
==== Chargers ====
In the AFC Divisional Playoffs, the Chargers managed to overcome a 21–6 halftime deficit to defeat the Miami Dolphins, 22–21. In the first half, San Diego was limited to only two John Carney field goals, while Miami quarterback Dan Marino threw for over 180 yards and 3 touchdowns. However, the Chargers dominated the Dolphins in the second half, limiting their offense to just 16 plays. In the third quarter, after the Chargers were stopped on fourth and goal at the 1-yard line, Chargers defensive lineman Reuben Davis tackled Dolphins running back Bernie Parmalee in the end zone for a safety. San Diego then took the ensuing free kick and marched 54 yards to score on Means's 24-yard touchdown run. Then with time running out, Humphries threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Seay, giving his team a one-point lead. The Dolphins, aided by a pass interference call, responded with a drive to the Chargers' 31-yard line, but kicker Pete Stoyanovich's potential game-winning 48-yard field goal attempt sailed far to the right of the goal posts and sealed San Diego's stirring win.
San Diego then faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. Once again, the Chargers fell behind early as the Steelers built up a 13–3 halftime lead, but Humphries fooled the Steelers secondary with a 43-yard play-action touchdown pass to a wide open tight end Alfred Pupunu. The Chargers then took a 17–13 lead when Martin beat the Steelers secondary (particularly a badly overmatched Tim McKyer) down the right sideline for a 43-yard touchdown reception. On their final drive, the Steelers advanced to the San Diego 3-yard line, but Chargers linebacker Dennis Gibson sealed the victory on fourth down by deflecting quarterback Neil O'Donnell's pass intended for running back Barry Foster to turn the ball back over to San Diego. Just like the 49ers in the NFC title game, the Chargers advanced to the Super Bowl despite the fact that their opponent had outgained them in many key statistical categories such as total plays (80–47), total offensive yards (415–226), and time of possession (37:13–22:47).
==== 49ers ====
The 49ers first defeated the Chicago Bears, 44–15, in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Although Chicago scored first with a field goal, San Francisco scored 37 unanswered points to put the game out of reach by the end of the third quarter. Floyd scored three rushing touchdowns, while Young rushed for a touchdown and threw for another.
San Francisco then defeated their nemesis, the Dallas Cowboys, 38–28, in the NFC Championship Game. Expected to be a close game, the 49ers converted 3 Dallas turnovers into 21 points in the first quarter. On the third play of the game, cornerback Eric Davis returned an interception from Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman for a touchdown. Wide receiver Michael Irvin lost a fumble on Dallas' next drive, setting up Young's 29-yard touchdown pass to Watters. Then Cowboys returner Kevin Williams lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and it was recovered by kicker Doug Brien at Dallas' 35-yard line. Several plays later, Floyd scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give San Francisco a 21–0 lead less than 8 minutes into the game. With the score 24–14 in the closing minutes of the first half, Aikman threw 3 straight incompletions, and a short punt by the Cowboys set up Young's 28-yard touchdown completion to Rice with 8 seconds remaining in the first half. The Cowboys eventually cut their deficit to 38–28 with a touchdown run by Emmitt Smith and Aikman's 10-yard touchdown pass to Irvin in the final period, but they were unable to score again. Although the Cowboys outgained the 49ers in total offensive yards (451–294), Aikman broke an NFC Championship Game record with 380 yards passing, and Irvin also broke an NFC Championship Game record with 192 receiving yards, Dallas was ultimately unable to overcome their first-quarter turnovers.
=== Super Bowl pregame news ===
Entering Super Bowl XXIX, most sports writers and fans thought the Chargers had absolutely no chance of defeating the 49ers. San Francisco was on track, winning 12 of its last 13 games (with their only loss in that span coming against the Minnesota Vikings in a meaningless regular season finale at Minnesota), including their playoff victories. Many people also thought that the NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and the Cowboys was "the real Super Bowl", because those two teams were commonly viewed as vastly superior to any AFC team. Furthermore, San Francisco had defeated San Diego, 38–15, during the regular season. As a result, the 49ers entered the game favored to win by 18.5-point, surpassed only by the 19.5-point, by the Baltimore Colts who were favored over the New York Jets in Super Bowl III more than two decades prior.
Many also speculated that Super Bowl XXIX would be the least watched game in Super Bowl history because the Chargers did not have as large of a core fan base as other AFC teams like the Chiefs, the Dolphins, or the Steelers. (This prediction ultimately turned out to be false. Although Super Bowl XXIX was viewed by 125.2 million people and had a Nielsen rating of 41.3, Super Bowl XXVI three years earlier was seen by 119.7 million viewers and recorded a 40.3 rating.)
This was the seventh Super Bowl to be played in Miami, at the time tying both New Orleans, Louisiana and the Greater Los Angeles area for hosting the Super Bowl the most times. It remains the only Super Bowl played between teams that play their home games in the same state (although Super Bowl XXV was played between the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills, two teams representing areas of New York, the Giants play their home games in New Jersey).
== Broadcasting ==
The game was broadcast in the United States by ABC, with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentators Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf. Lynn Swann reported from the Chargers sideline and Lesley Visser reported from the 49ers sideline. Visser became the first woman assigned to a Super Bowl sideline; she had previously become the first woman sportscaster to cover the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremony, when she covered Super Bowl XXVI for CBS. Brent Musburger hosted all the Super Bowl XXIX pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame events with the help of then-ABC Sports analyst Dick Vermeil, Musburger's regular color commentator on ABC's college football telecasts, and then-New York Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason.
This was the last Super Bowl broadcast by the broadcast team of Michaels, Gifford and Dierdorf. The three called Monday Night Football from the 1987 to 1997, and also worked ABC's coverage of Super Bowls XXII and XXV. This would also be the last Super Bowl aired on ABC until the 1999 season (when Al Michaels called the game with Boomer Esiason). This would also be the final Super Bowl hosted by Musburger, as all subsequent Super Bowls on ABC were hosted by ESPN's Chris Berman following the Disney purchase of ABC (which included ESPN), and the subsequent integration of ESPN and ABC Sports (now ESPN on ABC). Also, the trophy presentation for this game was the last to be held in the winning team's locker room, as all subsequent Vince Lombardi Trophy presentations would be held on the field.
For the Super Bowl lead-out program, ABC premiered the television drama Extreme starring James Brolin; this was the last series to premiere following the Super Bowl until Family Guy premiered following Super Bowl XXXIII and is one of only four in the last 14 years to premiere following a Super Bowl (joining Family Guy, its spinoff American Dad!, and Undercover Boss which premiered following Super Bowl XLIV), since the networks have preferred to have new episodes of established shows to catch as much of the post-game audience as possible.
Thirty-second television advertisements for Super Bowl XXIX averaged $1.15 million in costs, the first time that Super Bowl ads exceeded the $1 million mark.
Super Bowl XXIX aired in over 150 countries worldwide. It was simulcast in Canada on CTV and TVA (in French), in Mexico on Televisa's Canal 5, whose commentators were able to call the game live from San Diego on the last minute, in Germany on Tele 5, in Australia on ABC, in the Philippines on the GMA Network and later aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4.
This Super Bowl would later be featured on NFL's Greatest Games under the title Exercise in Excellence. The Super Bowl highlight film on which the episode was based was the only Super Bowl highlight film to be narrated by Harry Kalas.
=== In popular culture ===
In the Tuesday prior to the Super Bowl, the ABC sitcom Full House aired an episode called "Super Bowl Fun Day" involving main characters Danny Tanner and Rebecca Donaldson reporting at the game for their show Wake Up, San Francisco. (Full House was set in San Francisco, and this was the only time during the show's run that the 49ers advanced to a Super Bowl aired on ABC.) A week earlier, the Seinfeld episode "The Label Maker" involved Jerry trying to give away his tickets to the game. He eventually decided to go, but unfortunately was stuck sitting next to Newman. Two days after the Super Bowl, the game was the main plot feature of an episode of the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, "Super Bowl Fever", in which Jill was sick with the flu while Tim and his buddies tried to watch the game.
== Entertainment ==
=== Pregame ceremonies ===
The pregame show held before the game featured country music singer Hank Williams Jr., who performed his theme song for Monday Night Football, which was based on his single "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight".
Actress and singer Kathie Lee Gifford (Frank Gifford's wife) later sang the national anthem. She was accompanied by then-Miss America Heather Whitestone who signed the anthem for the hearing impaired.
To honor the NFL's 75th season, four former players all Hall of Fame members, who were named to the league's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team joined the coin toss ceremony: Otto Graham, Joe Greene, Ray Nitschke, and Gale Sayers.
A special 75th anniversary logo was painted at midfield. Each player also wore a patch on his jersey with the same logo; the 75th anniversary patch was worn by all players league-wide during the 1994 season. During the regular season, teams also wore "throwback" jerseys for selected games. The 49ers wore their throwbacks (which paid tribute to the 1957 Niners) for most of the season, this game included.
=== Halftime show ===
The halftime show was titled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye" and was produced by Disney to promote their Indiana Jones Adventure attraction at Disneyland that opened later that year. The show featured actors playing Indiana Jones and his girlfriend Marion Ravenwood who were raiding the Vince Lombardi Trophy from the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The show also had performances by singers Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and the Miami Sound Machine. The show ended with everybody singing "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", the song featured in Disney's (which later acquired ABC) 1994 film The Lion King. The dancers on the field were members of the Coral Gables Senior High School marching band.
This halftime show also had a connection with past ABC programming: the first two Indiana Jones films had their broadcast premieres on ABC, and the network aired a TV series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, from 1992 to 1993 (actually serving as the lead-in to Monday Night Football at one point).
== Radio ==
The game was broadcast on nationwide radio by CBS with play-by-play announcer Jack Buck and color commentator Hank Stram. Jim Hunter hosted all of the events. Locally, Super Bowl XXIX was broadcast by XTRA-AM in San Diego with Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton and Jim Laslavic and by KGO-AM in San Francisco with Joe Starkey and Wayne Walker.
== Game summary ==
=== First quarter ===
After 49ers running back Dexter Carter returned the opening kickoff 9 yards to the San Francisco 26-yard line, a face mask penalty on Chargers linebacker Doug Miller allowed San Francisco to start at their own 41. On the third play of the drive, quarterback Steve Young threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jerry Rice to take an early 7–0 lead. The 49ers became the second team to take the opening kickoff and score a touchdown on that first drive (the first being the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VIII), and also set a new Super Bowl record for the fastest touchdown (later broken by the Chicago Bears' Devin Hester in Super Bowl XLI). After forcing the Chargers to punt after a three-and-out on their opening possession, the 49ers advanced 79 yards in four plays, with Young rushing for 21 yards and then throwing a 51-yard touchdown pass to running back Ricky Watters to give San Francisco a 14–0 lead less than 5 minutes into the first quarter and set a Super Bowl record for the fastest second touchdown scored by a team.
San Diego responded on their ensuing possession, marching 78 yards in 13 plays and taking more than 7 minutes off the clock. The drive featured two receptions and a run by running back Ronnie Harmon for 33 yards and six runs by running back Natrone Means for 22 yards, the last one being a 1-yard touchdown run, cutting the Chargers' deficit to 14–7. However, the 49ers quickly countered after the ensuing kickoff, driving 70 yards in 10 plays. Rice started off the drive with a 19-yard reception and 10-yard run on a reverse play, while Young added a 12-yard completion to wide receiver John Taylor and a 15-yard scramble.
=== Second quarter ===
Four plays into the second quarter, Young threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to fullback William Floyd, increasing the San Francisco lead to 21–7 and making the 49ers the second team to score on its first three possessions (after Green Bay) of a Super Bowl and the first (and only as of 2024) to score touchdowns on its first three possessions.
After the next three possessions ended in punts, Chargers punter Bryan Wagner's 40-yard punt from his own 9-yard line gave the 49ers the ball at the San Diego 49. San Francisco then marched on a 9-play drive, which included two receptions by Rice for 19 yards and ended with Young's fourth touchdown pass, an 8-yard toss to Watters, with 4:44 left in the half, making the score 28–7. San Diego then took the ensuing kickoff and drove 62 yards from their own 25-yard line to the San Francisco 13, featuring a 17-yard reception by wide receiver Mark Seay, a 10-yard reverse run by wide receiver Shawn Jefferson, and a 33-yard gain on a screen pass from quarterback Stan Humphries to running back Eric Bieniemy, the Chargers' longest play of the game. But after Humphries threw three incomplete passes, one of which was a perfectly thrown pass that Seay dropped in the end zone, they were forced to settle for kicker John Carney's 31-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 28–10.
A 33-yard completion from Young to tight end Brent Jones helped the 49ers reach the San Diego 29-yard line on their next possession, but Young's third-down pass to Jones was overthrown, and kicker Doug Brien missed a 47-yard field goal attempt wide right. The Chargers then drove to their own 46-yard line, but 49ers cornerback Eric Davis intercepted Humphries' third-down pass intended for wide receiver Tony Martin in the end zone for a touchback with 10 seconds left in the half, and the score remained 28–10 at halftime. The Chargers' 18-point halftime deficit ended up being the closest scoring margin they would reach for the rest of the game.
=== Third quarter ===
The 49ers picked up right where they left off going into the second half. The Chargers were forced to punt after three plays on the opening drive of the half, and Carter returned the ball 11 yards to his own 38-yard line. Young subsequently completed two passes to Rice for 37 yards (including a 21-yard pass on 3rd-and-17) and a 16-yard pass to Taylor on a 7-play, 62-yard drive that ended with Watters' third touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run, increasing the 49ers' lead to 35–10. After a 33-yard kickoff return by wide receiver Andre Coleman, the Chargers advanced to the San Francisco 33-yard line, aided by a 23-yard reception by tight end Alfred Pupunu, but they turned the ball over on downs when Humphries' 4th-and-7 pass intended for Martin was broken up by Davis. Young then led San Francisco on a 10-play, 67-yard drive, aided by a 22-yard pass interference penalty against cornerback Darrien Gordon on 3rd-and-14, to score on his fifth touchdown pass, a 15-yard completion to Rice. But San Diego immediately responded when Coleman returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Then Humphries completed a pass to Seay for a two-point conversion (the first in Super Bowl history; the rule had been adopted by the NFL at the start of the season), but it only cut the deficit to 42–18.
The 49ers were forced to punt on their next drive, but the Chargers ended up turning the ball over on downs again when Means was tackled for a 4-yard loss by safety Merton Hanks on 4th-and-1 from the San Diego 37.
=== Fourth quarter ===
Six plays later, after three runs by Watters for 25 yards, Young threw his record-setting sixth touchdown pass to Rice on a 7-yard completion with 13:49 remaining in the game, increasing the San Francisco lead to 49–18 and essentially ending any hopes of a San Diego comeback. The Chargers, now playing for pride, responded with a 13-play, 59-yard drive to reach the San Francisco 7-yard line. Humphries led his team down the field 12 yards for the first four plays, but hurt his ankle while being tackled by defensive tackle Bryant Young, and was temporarily replaced by Gale Gilbert, who completed two passes to Harmon for 24 yards, but threw an interception on 4th-and-6 to cornerback Deion Sanders, who returned the ball to the San Francisco 14-yard line. After two punts by the 49ers and an interception by San Francisco defensive back Toi Cook (during which Humphries returned to the game), the Chargers scored the final points of the game on a 67-yard, 8-play drive, which consisted of two receptions by Seay for 30 yards and two receptions by Martin for 42 yards, the second of which was caught for a 30-yard touchdown. TV viewers didn't see most of the play as ABC had cut to the 49ers celebrating on the sideline. Humphries then completed another pass for a two-point conversion, this time to Pupunu, to make the final score 49–26. The 49ers recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran time off the clock before punting to the San Diego 7. San Diego drove to the San Francisco 35 before the game ended. Once the 49ers victory was assured, Young said "somebody take the monkey off my back!" Years later, he regretted saying that saying this was a team effort not an individual performance.
At the end of the game, Young showed his jubilation at finally being able to win "the big one" while accepting the MVP trophy. "There were times when this was hard! But this is the greatest feeling in the world! No one — no one! — can ever take this away from us! No one, ever! It's ours!" Young and his teammates were equally enthusiastic in the locker room afterwards. "We're part of history," said guard Jesse Sapolu. "This is probably the best offense people will see in their lifetimes." "Is this great or what?" Young added. "I mean, I haven't thrown six touchdown passes in a game in my life. Then I throw six in the Super Bowl! Unbelievable."
Rice caught 10 passes for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns, tying his own record for most touchdown receptions in a Super Bowl, and becoming the first player ever to do it twice. He also recorded 10 rushing yards. Watters rushed for 47 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 3 passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Means, who rushed for 1,350 yards in the regular season, was held to just 33 yards in the game. Humphries finished 24 out of 49 for 275 yards and one touchdown, with two interceptions. Seay was the Chargers' top receiver with 7 receptions for 75 yards, while Ronnie Harmon added 8 catches for 68 yards. Defensive end Raylee Johnson had two sacks. Coleman's 8 kickoff returns for 244 yards and a touchdown set the following Super Bowl records: most kickoff returns in a Super Bowl, most kickoff return yards in a Super Bowl, and most combined net yards gained in a Super Bowl.
This was the first Super Bowl to have two players each score three touchdowns. Rice matched his Super Bowl XXIV performance with his three touchdown catches. Watters also had three touchdowns, matching Roger Craig's three touchdowns (two receiving and one rushing) in Super Bowl XIX. Watters also became the second running back to catch two touchdown passes in a game, matching Craig.
Ken Norton Jr. became the first player to win three straight Super Bowls, although as a member of two teams. Norton was a member of the Cowboys teams who won Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII. Deion Sanders became the first player to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series, playing in the 1992 World Series with the Atlanta Braves.
Chargers quarterback Gale Gilbert became the first player to be a member of five straight Super Bowl teams. Gilbert was a member of the Bills who played in four straight Super Bowls (XXV–XXVIII). Gilbert was on the losing team in all five Super Bowl games.
The 49ers' spectacular performance led to their offensive coordinator, Mike Shanahan, and defensive coordinator, Ray Rhodes, earning head coaching positions in 1995 for the Denver Broncos and the Philadelphia Eagles, respectively. Bobby Ross became the second coach, after Jimmy Johnson in Super Bowl XXVII, to lead a team to a college football national championship (Georgia Tech in 1990) and a Super Bowl. One year later, Barry Switzer would join Johnson as the only head coaches to win championships in both NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) college football and the NFL.
=== Box score ===
== Final statistics ==
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXIX, Super Bowl XXIX Play Finder SF, Super Bowl XXIX Play Finder SD, USA Today Super Bowl XXIX Play by Play
=== Statistical comparison ===
=== Individual statistics ===
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Longest gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
=== Records set ===
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXIX, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parentheses).
† This category includes rushing, receiving, interception returns, punt returns, kickoff returns, and fumble returns.
== Starting lineups ==
Source:
Pro Football Hall of Fame‡
== Officials ==
Referee: Jerry Markbreit #9 fourth Super Bowl (XVII, XXI, XXVI)
Umpire: Ron Botchan #110 third Super Bowl (XX, XXVII)
Head linesman: Ron Phares #10 second Super Bowl (XVII)
Line judge: Ron Baynes #56 first Super Bowl
Back judge: Tim Millis #80 first Super Bowl
Side judge: Tom Fincken #47 first Super Bowl
Field judge: Jack Vaughan #93 third Super Bowl (XX, XXV)
Alternate referee: Gerald Austin #34 (side judge for XXIV; later referee for XXXI and XXXV)
Alternate umpire: Rex Stuart #103
Jerry Markbreit became the first official to serve as referee in four Super Bowls, a record that still stands.
Officials wore a black armband with number 42 to honor umpire Dave Hamilton, who died on January 9 at age 61 due to liver failure. Hamilton had completed his 20th season as an NFL official in 1994.
The day after the Super Bowl, Donnie Hampton, who had been a field judge since 1988, died of a heart attack at age 47. The officiating crew for the Pro Bowl one week later wore a second armband with Hampton's number 44.
== Aftermath ==
As of the 2024 season, this is the only Super Bowl played between teams based in the same state.
It is also the most recent Super Bowl title to date for the 49ers. They would play in three more in the 21st Century (Super Bowl XLVII, Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LVIII), but lost all of them.
As for the Chargers, the implications of their defeat were far worse in hindsight. This remains the only Super Bowl the Chargers have ever played in. Including the era before the AFL–NFL merger, it is the third championship game that the Chargers have lost. The AFL Championship in 1963 remains to this day as the only major sports championship the city of San Diego has won (and also the longest championship drought for any city that has at least two major sports franchises), so even though they were heavy underdogs, the loss still had great significance. The Chargers did not win another playoff game until the 2007 season, when they reached the AFC Championship Game but lost to the then-undefeated New England Patriots, 21–12. Super Bowl XXIX would be their only appearance while playing in San Diego before they moved to Los Angeles following the 2016 season.
=== Notable deaths from 1994 Chargers team ===
In addition, eight players from the 1994 Chargers Super Bowl team have died prior to reaching age 45. They include:
David Griggs: died in a traffic collision in 1995 at age 28
Rodney Culver: died in the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in 1996 at age 26
Doug Miller: killed by lightning strikes in 1998 at age 28
Chris Mims: died of heart attack in 2008 at age 38
Curtis Whitley: died from a drug overdose in 2008 at age 39
Lewis Bush: died from cardiac arrest in 2011 at age 42
Shawn Lee: died from cardiac arrest in 2011 at age 44
Junior Seau: suicide with a firearm in 2012 at age 43 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolish_(Ashanti_song) | Foolish (Ashanti song) | "Foolish" is the debut solo single by American singer Ashanti. It was released as the lead single from her self-titled debut album (2002) by Def Jam Recordings, AJM, and Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records on February 11, 2002. It was written by Ashanti, Etterlene Jordan, Mark DeBarge and Irv Gotti, while production was overseen by Gotti. The song heavily samples DeBarge's "Stay with Me". Due to the inclusion of the sample, Mark DeBarge and Etterlene Jordan are also credited as songwriters. A promotional version of the single called "Unfoolish" features a verse from The Notorious B.I.G. from his song "F--king You Tonight".
The song spent ten consecutive weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming Ashanti's second number one and third top ten on both charts. It is Ashanti's highest charting single as a lead artist. Elsewhere, "Foolish" became a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The song was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 2003 Grammy Awards, and won the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single – Female. In 2009, Billboard ranked it 19th on its Hot 100 Songs of the 2000s Decade.
== Composition ==
The song is performed in the key of C major in common time with a tempo of 89 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of Fmaj7–G, and Ashanti's vocals span from A3 to C6.
== Commercial performance ==
"Foolish" spent 10 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard charts and a total of 17 weeks in the top 10. It would later get ranked the second best performing single of 2002, and listed as the 132nd best single.
== Music video ==
The filming session of the video for the single took place during January 2002. It was directed by Irv Gotti. The video shows the viewer a relationship where a man, played by Terrence Howard, gets involved into some criminal acts after telling his girlfriend [Ashanti] that he is in construction and is unfaithful to Ashanti with Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta reality star Althea, which ends up in a break-up after some quarrel. As the song suggests, Ashanti feels that she still loves her ex and that she just can't seem to get over him and becomes frustrated since her heart and her mind force her to love him and hate him at the same time. The video is set in the fashion of the movie Goodfellas, with Ashanti in the role of Karen Hill and Terrence Howard in the role of Henry Hill. Irv Gotti and Ja Rule are also in a scene appearing to take the roles of Jimmy Conway and Paulie Cicero. The video was a three-time nominee at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best R&B Video, and Best New Artist.
== Track listings ==
== Credits and personnel ==
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Ashanti.
Instrumentation – 7 Aurelius
Mixing – Supa Engineer Duro, Irv Gotti
Production – 7 Aurelius, Irv Gotti
Songwriting – 7 Aurelius, A. Douglas, E. Jordan, I. Lorenzo, M. DeBarge
Recording – Milwaukee Buck
Recording assistance – Terry "Murda Mac" Herbert
== Charts ==
== Certifications ==
== Release history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_champions | List of Super Bowl champions | The Super Bowl is the annual American football game that determines the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The game culminates a season that begins in the previous calendar year, and is the conclusion of the NFL playoffs. The winner receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The contest is held in an American city, chosen three to four years beforehand, usually at warm-weather sites or domed stadiums. Since January 1971, the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game has faced the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC) Championship Game in the culmination of the NFL playoffs.
Before the 1970 merger between the American Football League (AFL) and the NFL, the two leagues met in four such contests. The first two were marketed as the "AFL–NFL World Championship Game", but were also casually referred to as "the Super Bowl game" during the television broadcast. Super Bowl III in January 1969 was the first such game that carried the "Super Bowl" moniker in official marketing; the names "Super Bowl I" and "Super Bowl II" were retroactively applied to the first two games.
A total of 20 franchises, including teams that have relocated to another city or changed their name, have won the Super Bowl. There are four NFL teams that have never appeared in a Super Bowl: the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans, though both the Browns (1950, 1954, 1955, 1964) and Lions (1935, 1952, 1953, 1957) had won NFL Championship Games prior to the creation of the Super Bowl in the 1966 season.
The 1972 Miami Dolphins capped off the only perfect season in NFL history with their victory in Super Bowl VII. Only two franchises have ever won the Super Bowl while hosting at their home stadiums: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV and the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. The reigning champions are the Seattle Seahawks following their victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
== Results ==
Numbers in parentheses in the table are Super Bowl appearances as of the date of that Super Bowl and are used as follows:
Winning team and Losing team columns indicate the number of times that team has appeared in a Super Bowl as well as each respective teams' Super Bowl record to date.
Venue column indicates number of times that stadium has hosted a Super Bowl.
City column indicates number of times that metropolitan area has hosted a Super Bowl.
W Indicates a team that made the playoffs as a wild card team (rather than by winning a division).
=== Upcoming games ===
==== Notes ====
== Streaks and rematches ==
=== Consecutive wins ===
Eight franchises have won consecutive Super Bowls, one of which (Pittsburgh) has accomplished it twice:
Green Bay Packers (Super Bowls I and II)
Miami Dolphins (VII and VIII)
Pittsburgh Steelers (twice: IX and X; XIII and XIV)
San Francisco 49ers (XXIII and XXIV)
Dallas Cowboys (XXVII and XXVIII)
Denver Broncos (XXXII and XXXIII)
New England Patriots (XXXVIII and XXXIX)
Kansas City Chiefs (LVII and LVIII)
Although no franchise to date has won three Super Bowls in a row, several have had eras of sustained success, nearly accomplishing a three-peat:
The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls, and also won the NFL Championship Game the preceding year. If the Super Bowl had been instituted that year, the Packers would have qualified and faced the Buffalo Bills of the AFL.
The Miami Dolphins appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls (VI, VII, and VIII) – winning the last two.
The Pittsburgh Steelers won two consecutive Super Bowls (IX and X); they also won two more consecutive Super Bowls (XIII and XIV) for four titles in six seasons.
The Dallas Cowboys won two consecutive Super Bowls (XXVII and XXVIII); the Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX the following year for three titles in four seasons.
The New England Patriots won Super Bowls XLIX, LI, and LIII for three titles in five seasons. They also appeared in and lost Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles following the 2017 season, giving them four Super Bowl appearances in five years.
The Kansas City Chiefs came the closest to a three-peat, winning back-to-back Super Bowls in LVII and LVIII but losing their third consecutive appearance in LIX. They additionally won LIV several years beforehand, and lost LV, for a total of five Super Bowl appearances in six seasons.
=== Consecutive losses ===
Three franchises have lost consecutive Super Bowls:
Buffalo Bills (4) (Super Bowls XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII) – The only team to appear in four straight Super Bowls; they lost in all four appearances.
Minnesota Vikings (2) (VIII and IX) – They also lost Super Bowl XI, and were knocked out of the 1975–76 playoffs by the eventual Super Bowl X losers, the Dallas Cowboys, for three losses in four seasons.
Denver Broncos (2) (XXI and XXII) – They also lost Super Bowl XXIV, but did not qualify for the 1988–89 playoffs for Super Bowl XXIII for three losses in four seasons.
=== Consecutive appearances ===
The Buffalo Bills have the most consecutive appearances with four from 1990 to 1993. The Miami Dolphins (1971–1973), New England Patriots (2016–2018) and Kansas City Chiefs (2022–2024) are the only other teams to have at least three consecutive appearances. Including those four, 12 teams have at least two consecutive appearances. The Dallas Cowboys are the only team with three separate streaks (1970–1971, 1977–1978, and 1992–1993). The Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs have each had two separate consecutive appearances. The full listing of teams with consecutive appearances is below in order of first occurrence; winning games are in bold:
Green Bay Packers (twice: Super Bowls I and II; XXXI and XXXII)
Dallas Cowboys (thrice: V and VI; XII and XIII; XXVII and XXVIII)
Miami Dolphins (VI, VII, and VIII)
Minnesota Vikings (VIII and IX)
Pittsburgh Steelers (twice: IX and X; XIII and XIV)
Washington Redskins (XVII and XVIII)
Denver Broncos (twice: XXI and XXII; XXXII and XXXIII)
San Francisco 49ers (XXIII and XXIV)
Buffalo Bills (XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII)
New England Patriots (twice: XXXVIII and XXXIX; LI, LII, and LIII)
Seattle Seahawks (XLVIII and XLIX)
Kansas City Chiefs (twice: LIV and LV; LVII, LVIII, and LIX)
=== Super Bowl rematches ===
The following teams have faced each other more than once in the Super Bowl:
3 times – Pittsburgh Steelers (X and XIII) vs. Dallas Cowboys (XXX) – see also Cowboys–Steelers rivalry
2 times – Miami Dolphins (VII) vs. Washington Redskins (XVII)
2 times – San Francisco 49ers (XVI and XXIII) vs. Cincinnati Bengals
2 times – Dallas Cowboys (XXVII and XXVIII) vs. Buffalo Bills
2 times – New York Giants (XLII and XLVI) vs. New England Patriots – see also Giants–Patriots rivalry
2 times – New England Patriots (XXXIX) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (LII)
2 times – New England Patriots (XXXVI and LIII) vs. St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams
2 times – Kansas City Chiefs (LIV and LVIII) vs. San Francisco 49ers
2 times – Kansas City Chiefs (LVII) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (LIX)
2 times – New England Patriots (XLIX) vs. Seattle Seahawks (LX)
== Records by franchise ==
In the sortable table below, franchises are ordered first by number of wins, followed by the total number of appearances, and finally by the total number of points scored by the franchise throughout all appearances. Included in the table are all of the team names that each franchise has had since the 1966 season, the start of the Super Bowl era.
=== Teams with Super Bowl appearances but no victories ===
Eight teams have appeared in the Super Bowl without ever winning. In descending order of number of appearances and then years since their last appearance, they are:
Minnesota Vikings (4) – appeared in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI; they won the NFL Championship in 1969, the last year before the AFL–NFL merger, but failed to win the subsequent Super Bowl.
Buffalo Bills (4) – XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII; in 1964 and 1965, they won the last two AFL Championships before the first Super Bowl in 1966.
Cincinnati Bengals (3) – XVI, XXIII, and LVI; an AFL expansion team in 1968, they have no pre-Super Bowl league championships.
Carolina Panthers (2) – XXXVIII and 50; a post-merger expansion team, their first season was in 1995.
Atlanta Falcons (2) – XXXIII and LI; an NFL expansion team in 1966, they have no pre-Super Bowl league championships.
Los Angeles Chargers (1) – XXIX as the San Diego Chargers; their only AFL Championship was in 1963, also as the San Diego Chargers.
Tennessee Titans (1) – XXXIV; they won the first two AFL Championships in 1960 and 1961 as the Houston Oilers.
Arizona Cardinals (1) – XLIII; they won two NFL Championships, one in 1925 and then again in 1947, both as the Chicago Cardinals.
=== Teams with no Super Bowl appearances or long active droughts ===
Four current teams have never reached the Super Bowl (shown in bold below). Two of them (Jacksonville and Houston) joined the NFL relatively recently, and there are an additional eight teams whose Super Bowl appearance droughts began prior to 2002 (the year Houston joined the NFL). The other two teams that have never appeared in a Super Bowl (Cleveland and Detroit) both held NFL league championships prior to Super Bowl I in the 1966 NFL season. Teams are listed below according to the length of their current Super Bowl droughts (as of the end of the 2025 season):
Cleveland Browns, 60 years – NFL champions four times in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964; appeared in seven other NFL Championship Games in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1965, 1968, and 1969; and appeared in three AFC Championship Games in the 1986, 1987, and 1989 seasons. The Browns are officially viewed as one continuous franchise that began in 1946 as a member of the All-America Football Conference, joined the NFL in 1950, suspended operations after 1995, and resumed play in 1999.
Detroit Lions, 60 years – NFL champions four times in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957; appeared in one other NFL Championship Game in 1954; and appeared in two NFC Championship Games in the 1991 and 2023 seasons.
New York Jets, 57 years – Won Super Bowl III, 1968 season
Minnesota Vikings, 49 years – Lost Super Bowl XI, 1976 season
Miami Dolphins, 41 years – Lost Super Bowl XIX, 1984 season
Washington Commanders, 34 years – Won Super Bowl XXVI, 1991 season (played as Washington Redskins)
Buffalo Bills, 32 years – Lost Super Bowl XXVIII, 1993 season
Los Angeles Chargers, 31 years – Lost Super Bowl XXIX, 1994 season (played as San Diego Chargers)
Jacksonville Jaguars, 31 years – 1995 expansion team; three AFC Championship Game appearances in the 1996, 1999, and 2017 seasons.
Dallas Cowboys, 30 years – Won Super Bowl XXX, 1995 season
Tennessee Titans, 26 years – Lost Super Bowl XXXIV, 1999 season
Houston Texans, 24 years – 2002 expansion team; Divisional Round appearances in the 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2025 seasons. They are the only NFL team to never reach the Conference Championship round. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Wales_College | Prince of Wales College | Prince of Wales College (PWC) is a former university college, which was located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. PWC merged with St. Dunstan's University in 1969 to form the University of Prince Edward Island.
PWC traces its history to 1804 when land was set aside by Lieutenant-Governor Edmund Fanning for a college - the colony's first. In 1821 a district school called the National School opened on the site located on Kent Street in the east end of Charlottetown. In 1835 Central Academy opened on a site along Grafton Street, immediately south of the National School. The National School closed in the early 1850s and the provincial Normal School for training teachers opened on the site in 1856.
In 1860 the Central Academy was upgraded and renamed Prince of Wales College (PWC) in honour of a visit to the colony that year by the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII. In 1879, PWC became co-educational and the Normal School was merged into the institution. A significant expansion took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s when a new brick and stone campus was constructed on the site of the original PWC campus. Ferdinand Herbert Marani, an architect with Marani & Paisley designed the new PWC campus which opened in 1932. PWC remained a non-denominational or inter-denominational college which served to provide an education comparable to the present-day colleges in Quebec, namely senior matriculation and one or several years of university. It was the non-denominational character of PWC which led many of Island Roman Catholics to label the school as being "Protestant". Many Catholic women attended PWC despite this label because they were barred from attending St. Dunstan's University which was male-only. It was not until 1965 that the provincial government granted PWC a degree-granting charter and the only Bachelor's degrees from PWC were awarded in the spring 1969 convocation.
PWC had several administrators who proved their importance to Prince Edward Island's education profession:
Dr. Alexander Anderson served as professor 1862–1868 and principal of PWC from 1868–1901, having influenced many islanders, including Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Dr. Samuel Napier Robertson served as professor and took over as principal of PWC following Anderson's move into the provincial civil service, serving in that role from 1901 to 1937.
G. Douglas Steel, a Harvard graduate would be on faculty for 40 years and served from 1937 to 1949 as principal.
Dr. Frank MacKinnon being invited back to the Island in 1949 at the age of 30, he took on the role of principal until he resigned in 1968, amid an effort by government to amalgamate the college with St. Dunstan's University. Sixteen other PWC faculty resigned soon after.
Thomas M. Lothian a biology professor became interim principal from 1968 until its dissolution in 1969.
PWC held high academic standards for its students and as early as the 1910s, McGill University entered into talks related to integrating PWC as its Atlantic coast counterpart to the University of Victoria, which McGill had also helped to establish and nurture. Master plans had called for quadrupling the size of the PWC Grafton Street campus to encompass most of what is now the eastern end of downtown Charlottetown with the proposed PWC-McGill campus being built along the area bounded by Grafton, Prince, Kent, and Edward Streets in a massive redevelopment of the community.
The plans did not come to fruition and by the 1960s, the provincial government began a critical study of its post-secondary education institutions (PWC and SDU), concluding that a merger to form a provincial university was the desired funding and service model for future students. The merger was not without controversy as emotions ran their course on the part of supporters of both institutions, however, in May 1969 the last classes graduated from PWC and SDU and the institutions were merged into the University of Prince Edward Island which opened for the first time in September 1969 on the now-former SDU campus. The PWC campus on Grafton Street was taken over by the provincial government and became part of UPEI during the early period of amalgamation. By the early 1970s it was the Charlottetown campus of a new provincial community college named Holland College. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manatee | Manatee | Manatees (, family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 4.0 metres (13 ft 1 in) long, weigh as much as 590 kilograms (1,300 lb), and have paddle-like tails.
Manatees are herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater and saltwater plants. Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Amazon basin, and West Africa.
The main causes of death for manatees are human-related issues, such as habitat destruction and human objects. Their slow-moving, curious nature has led to violent collisions with propeller-driven boats and ships. Some manatees have been found with over 50 scars on them from propeller blades. Natural causes of death include adverse temperatures, predation by crocodiles on young, and disease.
== Etymology ==
The etymology of the name is unclear, with connections having been made to Latin manus "hand" and to the term manaty "breast" from the Carib language of native South Americans. The Carib term may refer to the mammary glands of the manatee, which are located on their chests under their armpits. The term sea cow is a reference to the species' slow, peaceful, herbivorous nature, reminiscent of that of bovines. Lamantin (from French lamantin) was commonly used as an alternative name until the 20th century.
== Taxonomy ==
Manatees are three of the four living species in the order Sirenia. The fourth is the Eastern Hemisphere's dugong. The Sirenia are thought to have evolved from four-legged land mammals more than 60 million years ago, with the closest living relatives being the Proboscidea (elephants) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes).
== Description ==
Manatees weigh 400 to 550 kg (880 to 1,210 lb), and average 2.8 to 3.0 m (9 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) in length, sometimes growing to 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in) and 1,775 kg (3,913 lb) and females tend to be larger and heavier than males. At birth, baby manatees weigh about 30 kg (66 lb) each. The female manatee has two teats, one under each flipper, a characteristic that was used to make early links between the manatee and elephants.
The lids of manatees' small, widely spaced eyes close in a circular manner. The manatee has a large, flexible, prehensile upper lip, used to gather food and eat and for social interaction and communication. Manatees have shorter snouts than their fellow sirenians, the dugongs.
Manatee adults have no incisor or canine teeth, just a set of cheek teeth, which are not clearly differentiated into molars and premolars. These teeth are repeatedly replaced throughout life, with new teeth growing at the rear as older teeth fall out from farther forward in the mouth, somewhat as elephants' teeth do. At any time, a manatee typically has no more than six teeth in each jaw of its mouth.
The manatee's tail is paddle-shaped, and is the clearest visible difference between manatees and dugongs; a dugong tail is fluked, similar in shape to that of a whale.
The manatee is unusual among mammals in having just six cervical vertebrae, a number that may be due to mutations in the homeotic genes. All other mammals have seven cervical vertebrae, other than the two-toed and three-toed sloths.
Like the horse, the manatee has a simple stomach, but a large cecum, in which it can digest tough plant matter. Generally, the intestines are about 45 meters, unusually long for an animal of the manatee's size.
=== Evolution ===
Fossil remains of manatee ancestors – also known as sirenians – date back to the Early Eocene. It is thought that they reached the isolated area of the South American continent and became known as Trichechidae. In the Late Miocene, trichechids were likely restricted in South American coastal rivers and they fed on many freshwater plants. Dugongs inhabited the West Atlantic and Caribbean waters and fed on seagrass meadows instead. As the sea grasses began to grow, manatees adapted to the changing environment by growing supernumerary molars. Sea levels lowered and increased erosion and silt runoff was caused by glaciation. This increased the tooth wear of the bottom-feeding manatees.
== Behavior ==
Apart from mothers with their young, or males following a receptive female, manatees are generally solitary animals. Manatees spend approximately 50% of the day sleeping submerged, surfacing for air regularly at intervals of less than 20 minutes. The remainder of the time is mostly spent grazing in shallow waters at depths of 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in). The Florida subspecies (T. m. latirostris) has been known to live up to 60 years.
=== Locomotion ===
Generally, manatees swim at about 5 to 8 km/h (3 to 5 mph). However, they have been known to swim at up to 30 km/h (20 mph) in short bursts.
=== Intelligence and learning ===
Manatees are capable of understanding discrimination tasks and show signs of complex associative learning. They also have good long-term memory. They demonstrate discrimination and task-learning abilities similar to dolphins and pinnipeds in acoustic and visual studies. Social interactions between manatees are highly complex and intricate, which may indicate higher intelligence than previously thought, although they remain poorly understood by science.
=== Reproduction ===
Manatees typically breed once every two years; generally only a single calf is born. Gestation lasts about 12 months and to wean the calf takes a further 12 to 18 months, although females may have more than one estrous cycle per year.
=== Communication ===
Manatees emit a wide range of sounds used in communication, especially between cows and their calves. Their ears are large internally but the external openings are small, and they are located four inches behind each eye. Adults communicate to maintain contact and during sexual and play behaviors. Taste and smell, in addition to sight, sound, and touch, may also be forms of communication.
=== Diet ===
Manatees are herbivores and eat over 60 different freshwater (e.g., floating hyacinth, pickerel weed, alligator weed, water lettuce, hydrilla, water celery, musk grass, mangrove leaves) and saltwater plants (e.g., sea grasses, shoal grass, manatee grass, turtle grass, widgeon grass, sea clover, and marine algae). Using their divided upper lip, an adult manatee will commonly eat up to 10–15% of their body weight (about 50 kg or 110 lb) per day. Consuming such an amount requires the manatee to graze for up to seven hours a day. To be able to cope with the high levels of cellulose in their plant based diet, manatees utilize hindgut fermentation to help with the digestion process. Manatees have been known to eat small numbers of fish from nets.
=== Feeding behavior ===
Manatees use their flippers to "walk" along the bottom whilst they dig for plants and roots in the substrate. When plants are detected, the flippers are used to scoop the vegetation toward the manatee's lips. The manatee has prehensile lips; the upper lip pad is split into left and right sides which can move independently. The lips use seven muscles to manipulate and tear at plants. Manatees use their lips and front flippers to move the plants into the mouth. The manatee does not have front teeth, however, behind the lips, on the roof of the mouth, there are dense, ridged pads. These horny ridges, and the manatee's lower jaw, tear through ingested plant material.
=== Dentition ===
Manatees have four rows of teeth. There are 6 to 8 high-crowned, open-rooted molars located along each side of the upper and lower jaw giving a total of 24 to 32 flat, rough-textured teeth. Eating gritty vegetation abrades the teeth, particularly the enamel crown; however, research indicates that the enamel structure in manatee molars is weak. To compensate for this, manatee teeth are continually replaced. When anterior molars wear down, they are shed. Posterior molars erupt at the back of the row and slowly move forward to replace these like enamel crowns on a conveyor belt, similarly to elephants. This process continues throughout the manatee's lifetime. The rate at which the teeth migrate forward depends on how quickly the anterior teeth abrade. Some studies indicate that the rate is about 1 cm/month although other studies indicate 0.1 cm/month.
== Ecology ==
=== Range and habitat ===
Manatees inhabit the shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (T. manatus, West Indian manatee), the Amazon basin (T. inunguis, Amazonian manatee), and West Africa (T. senegalensis, West African manatee).
West Indian manatees prefer warmer temperatures and are known to congregate in shallow waters. They frequently migrate through brackish water estuaries to freshwater springs. They cannot survive below 15 °C (60 °F). Their natural source for warmth during winter is warm, spring-fed rivers.
==== West Indian ====
The coast of the state of Georgia is usually the northernmost range of the West Indian manatees because their low metabolic rate does not protect them in cold water. Prolonged exposure to water below 20 °C (68 °F) can cause "cold stress syndrome" and death.
West Indian manatees can move freely between fresh water and salt water. However, studies suggest that they are susceptible to dehydration if freshwater is not available for an extended period of time.
Manatees can travel hundreds of miles annually, and have been seen as far north as Cape Cod, and in 1995 and again in 2006, one was seen in New York City and Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. A manatee was spotted in the Wolf River harbor near the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis in 2006, and was later found dead 16 km (10 mi) downriver in McKellar Lake. Another manatee was found dead on a New Jersey beach in February 2020, considered especially unusual given the time of year. At the time of the manatee's discovery, the water temperature in the area was below 6.5 °C (43.7 °F).
The West Indian manatee migrates into Florida rivers—such as the Crystal, the Homosassa, and the Chassahowitzka rivers, whose headsprings are 22 °C (72 °F) all year. Between November and March each year, about 600 West Indian manatees gather in the rivers in Citrus County, Florida such as the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge.
In winter, manatees often gather near the warm-water outflows of power plants along the Florida coast, instead of migrating south as they once did. Some conservationists are concerned that these manatees have become too reliant on these artificially warmed areas.
Accurate population estimates of the West Indian manatee in Florida are difficult. They have been called scientifically weak because they vary widely from year to year, with most areas showing decreases, and little strong evidence of increases except in two areas. Manatee counts are highly variable without an accurate way to estimate numbers. In Florida in 1996, a winter survey found 2,639 manatees; in 1997, a January survey found 2,229, and a February survey found 1,706. A statewide synoptic survey in January 2010 found 5,067 manatees living in Florida, the highest number recorded to that time.
As of January 2016, the USFWS estimates the range-wide West Indian manatee population to be at least 13,000; as of January 2018, at least 6,100 are estimated to be in Florida.
Population viability studies conducted in 1997 found that decreasing adult survival and eventual extinction were probable future outcomes for Florida manatees unless they received more protection. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed downgrading the manatee's status from endangered to threatened in January 2016 after more than 40 years.
There is a small population of the subspecies Antillean manatee (T. m. manatus) found in Mexico's Caribbean coastal area. The best estimate for this population is 200–250. As of 2022, a new manatee habitat was discovered by Klaus Thymann within the cenotes of Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve on the Yucatán Peninsula. The explorer and his team documented the discovery with a 12-minute film that is available on the interactive streaming platform WaterBear. The discovery got picked up by the New Scientist in 2024, who featured in a 10-minute short film.
==== Amazonian ====
The freshwater Amazonian manatee (T. inunguis) inhabits the Central Amazon Basin in Brazil, eastern Perú, southeastern Colombia, but not Ecuador. It is the only exclusively freshwater manatee, and is also the smallest. Since they are unable to reduce peripheral heat loss, it is found primarily in tropical waters.
==== West African ====
They are found in coastal marine and estuarine habitats, and in freshwater river systems along the west coast of Africa from the Senegal River south to the Cuanza River in Angola. They live as far upriver on the Niger River as Koulikoro in Mali, 2,000 km (1,200 mi) from the coast.
=== Predation ===
In relation to the threat posed by humans, predation does not present a significant threat to manatees. When threatened, the manatee's response is to dive as deeply as it can, suggesting that threats have most frequently come from land dwellers such as humans rather than from other water-dwelling creatures such as caimans or sharks.
== Relation to humans ==
=== Threats ===
The main causes of death for manatees are human-related issues, such as habitat destruction and human objects. Natural causes of death include adverse temperatures, predation by crocodiles on young, and disease.
==== Ship strikes ====
Their slow-moving, curious nature, coupled with dense coastal development, has led to many violent collisions with propeller-driven boats and ships, leading frequently to maiming, disfigurement, and even death. As a result, a large proportion of manatees exhibit spiral cutting propeller scars on their backs, usually caused by larger vessels that do not have skegs in front of the propellers like the smaller outboard and inboard-outboard recreational boats have. They are now even identified by humans based on their scar patterns. Many manatees have been cut in two by large vessels like ships and tug boats, even in the highly populated lower St. Johns River's narrow channels. Some are concerned that the current situation is inhumane, with upwards of 50 scars and disfigurements from vessel strikes on a single manatee. Often, the lacerations lead to infections, which can prove fatal. Internal injuries stemming from being trapped between hulls and docks and impacts have also been fatal. Testing and studies from the 2000s and 2010s suggested that manatees may be able to hear speed boats and other watercraft approaching, due to the frequency the boat makes. However, a manatee may not be able to hear the approaching boats when they are performing day-to-day activities or distractions. The manatee has a tested frequency range of 8 to 32 kilohertz.
Manatees hear on a higher frequency than would be expected for such large marine mammals. Many large boats emit very low frequencies, which confuse the manatee and explain their lack of awareness around boats. The Lloyd's mirror effect results in low frequency propeller sounds not being discernible near the surface, where most accidents occur. Research indicates that when a boat has a higher frequency the manatees rapidly swim away from danger.
In 2003, a population model was released by the United States Geological Survey that predicted an extremely grave situation confronting the manatee in both the Southwest and Atlantic regions where the vast majority of manatees are found. It states,
In the absence of any new management action, that is, if boat mortality rates continue to increase at the rates observed since 1992, the situation in the Atlantic and Southwest regions is dire, with no chance of meeting recovery criteria within 100 years. "Hurricanes, cold stress, red tide poisoning and a variety of other maladies threaten manatees, but by far their greatest danger is from watercraft strikes, which account for about a quarter of Florida manatee deaths," said study curator John Jett.
According to marine mammal veterinarians:
The severity of mutilations for some of these individuals can be astounding – including long term survivors with completely severed tails, major tail mutilations, and multiple disfiguring dorsal lacerations. These injuries not only cause gruesome wounds, but may also impact population processes by reducing calf production (and survival) in wounded females – observations also speak to the likely pain and suffering endured. In an example, they cited one case study of a small calf "with a severe dorsal mutilation trailing a decomposing piece of dermis and muscle as it continued to accompany and nurse from its mother ... by age 2 its dorsum was grossly deformed and included a large protruding rib fragment visible."
These veterinarians go on to state:
[T]he overwhelming documentation of gruesome wounding of manatees leaves no room for denial. Minimization of this injury is explicit in the Recovery Plan, several state statutes, and federal laws, and implicit in our society's ethical and moral standards.
One-quarter of annual manatee deaths in Florida are caused by boat collisions with manatees. In 2009, of the 429 Florida manatees recorded dead, 97 were killed by commercial and recreational vessels, which broke the earlier record number of 95 set in 2002.
==== Red tide ====
Another cause of manatee deaths are red tides, a term used for the proliferation, or "blooms", of the microscopic marine algae Karenia brevis. This dinoflagellate produces brevetoxins that can have toxic effects on the central nervous system of animals.
In 1996, a red tide was responsible for 151 manatee deaths in Florida. The bloom was present from early March to the end of April and killed approximately 15% of the known population of manatees along South Florida's western coast. Other blooms in 1982 and 2005 resulted in 37 and 44 deaths respectively, and a red tide killed 123 manatees between November 2022 and June 2023.
==== Starvation ====
In 2021 a massive die-off of seagrass along the Atlantic coast of Florida left manatees without enough food to eat, and they began dying at high rates. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service responded with a feeding program that distributing 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of lettuce per day to the manatee population.
==== Additional threats ====
Manatees can also be crushed and isolated in water control structures (navigation locks, floodgates, etc.) and are occasionally killed by entanglement in fishing gear, such as crab pot float lines, box traps, and shark nets.
While humans are allowed to swim with manatees in one area of Florida, there have been numerous charges of people harassing and disturbing the manatees. According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, approximately 99 manatee deaths each year are related to human activities. In January 2016, there were 43 manatee deaths in Florida alone.
=== Conservation ===
All three species of manatee are listed by the World Conservation Union as vulnerable to extinction. However, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) does not consider the West Indian manatee to be "endangered" anymore, having downgraded its status to "threatened" as of March 2017. They cite improvements to habitat conditions, population growth and reductions of threats as reasoning for the change. The reclassification was met with controversy, with Florida congressman Vern Buchanan and groups such as the Save the Manatee Club and the Center for Biological Diversity expressing concerns that the change would have a detrimental effect on conservation efforts. The new classification will not affect current federal protections. West Indian manatees were originally classified as endangered with the 1967 class of endangered species.
Manatee deaths in the state of Florida nearly doubled in 2021 from 637 (2020) to 1100. Although this number decreased to 800 in 2022, it is likely that current rate of development in Florida, climate change, and decreasing water quality, habitat range, and genetic diversity among this population may lead to reconsideration of the West Indian Manatee as an endangered species. Manatee population in the United States reached a low in the 1970s, during which only a few hundred individuals lived in the nation. As of February 2016, 6,250 manatees were reported swimming in Florida's springs. It is illegal under federal and Florida law to injure or harm a manatee.
Also in Florida, due to extensive destruction of their habitat, manatees rely on the warm waters created by a major power plant's hot water effluent streams to survive during the cold winter months. Manatee reliance on these effluent streams is such that the streams are protected under federal environmental legislation. Researchers have theorized that the prevalence of manatee sightings near this power plant is contributing to "collective inattention" to industrialization and development as ongoing causes of manatee habitat destruction.
There are many conservation programs that have been created to help manatees. Save the Manatee Club is a non-profit group and membership organization that works to protect manatees and their aquatic ecosystems. Founded by Bob Graham, former Florida governor, and singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett, this is today's leading manatee conservation club.
The MV Freedom Star and MV Liberty Star, ships used by NASA to tow Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters back to Kennedy Space Center, were propelled only by water jets to protect the endangered manatee population that inhabits regions of the Banana River where the ships are based.
Brazil outlawed hunting in 1973 in an effort to preserve the species. Deaths by boat strikes are still common. Although countries are protecting Amazonian manatees in the locations where they are endangered, as of 1994 there were no enforced laws, and the manatees were still being captured throughout their range.
=== Captivity ===
There are a number of manatee rehabilitation centers in the United States. These include three government-run critical care facilities in Florida at Lowry Park Zoo, Miami Seaquarium, and SeaWorld Orlando. After initial treatment at these facilities, the manatees are transferred to rehabilitation facilities before release. These include the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Epcot's The Seas, South Florida Museum, and Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.
The Columbus Zoo was a founding member of the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership in 2001. Since 1999, the zoo's Manatee Bay facility has helped rehabilitate 20 manatees. The Cincinnati Zoo has rehabilitated and released more than a dozen manatees since 1999.
Manatees can also be viewed in a number of European zoos, such as the Tierpark Berlin and the Nuremberg Zoo in Germany, in ZooParc de Beauval in France, the Aquarium of Genoa in Italy and the Royal Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands, where manatees have parented offspring. The River Safari at Singapore features seven of them.
The oldest manatee in captivity was Snooty, at the South Florida Museum's Parker Manatee Aquarium in Bradenton, Florida. Born at the Miami Aquarium and Tackle Company on July 21, 1948, Snooty was one of the first recorded captive manatee births. Raised entirely in captivity, Snooty was never to be released into the wild. As such he was the only manatee at the aquarium, and one of only a few captive manatees in the United States that was allowed to interact with human handlers. That made him uniquely suitable for manatee research and education.
Snooty died suddenly two days after his 69th birthday, July 23, 2017, when he was found in an underwater area only used to access plumbing for the exhibit life support system. The South Florida Museum's initial press release stated, "Early indications are that an access panel door that is normally bolted shut had somehow been knocked loose and that Snooty was able to swim in."
==== Guyana ====
Since the 19th century, Georgetown, Guyana has kept West Indian manatees in its botanical garden, and later, its national park.
In the 1910s and again in the 1950s, sugar estates in Guyana used manatees to keep their irrigation canals weed-free.
Between the 1950s and 1970s, the Georgetown water treatment plant used manatees in their storage canals for the same purpose.
=== Culture ===
The manatee has been linked to folklore on mermaids. In West African folklore, they were considered sacred and thought to have been once human. Killing one was taboo and required penance. In the cosmogony of the Serer people of Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania, the cayman and the manatee holds great significance in Serer mythology. The cayman is believed to hold the secrets of the past whilst the manatee holds the secrets of the future.
In the novel Moby-Dick, Herman Melville distinguishes manatees ("Lamatins", cf. lamantins) from small whales; stating, "I am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included by many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a noisy, contemptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom of Cetology."
A manatee called Wardell appears in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons video game. He is part of a paid downloadable content expansion, managing and selling furniture to the player.
In Rudyard Kipling's The White Seal (one of the stories in The Jungle Book), Sea Cow, about whom the story says that he has only six cervical vertebrae, is a manatee.
The manatees Friends West Indian Manatee, Dugong, and Steller's Sea Cow appear in multiple Kemono Friends games, including the app version of Kemono Friends 3.
In the Neapolitan region of Italy, a culinary legend exists around the consumption of manatees during World War II. In the story, when Naples and Salerno surrendered to the Allies in 1943, the cities, lacking food supplies thanked the Allied generals by serving manatee from the aquarium. When this was revealed, the popular reaction was not shock, but questions over how it was prepared, to which the answer was "aglio-olio [garlic and olive oil], of course, with a little parsley." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_DeVito#Acting_credits_and_accolades | Danny DeVito#Acting credits and accolades | Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for his short stature, raspy voice, distinct accent, and energetic comedy roles, he gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi (1978–1983), which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. Since 2006, he has played Frank Reynolds on the FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
DeVito is known for his film roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Terms of Endearment (1983), Romancing the Stone (1984), The Jewel of the Nile (1985), Ruthless People (1986), Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Twins (1988), The War of the Roses (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Jack the Bear (1993), Junior (1994), Matilda (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Big Kahuna (1999), Big Fish (2003), Deck the Halls (2006), When in Rome (2010), Wiener-Dog (2016) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). He has voiced roles in such films as Hercules (1997), The Lorax (2012), Smallfoot (2018) and Migration (2023).
DeVito and Michael Shamberg founded Jersey Films. Soon afterwards, Stacey Sher became an equal partner. The production company is known for films such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Garden State (2004) and Freedom Writers (2007). DeVito also owned Jersey Television, which produced the Comedy Central series Reno 911!. DeVito and wife Rhea Perlman starred together in his 1996 film Matilda, based on Roald Dahl's children's novel. DeVito was also one of the producers nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for Erin Brockovich (2000).
From 2012 to 2013, DeVito played Willie Clark in the West End revival of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys. He made his Broadway debut as Gregory Solomon in the revival of Arthur Miller's The Price (2017), earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He returned to Broadway in the Theresa Rebeck play I Need That (2023).
== Early life and education ==
DeVito was born at Raleigh Fitkin-Paul Morgan Memorial Hospital in Neptune Township, New Jersey, the son of Daniel DeVito Sr., a small business owner and Julia DeVito (née Moccello). He grew up in a family of five, with his parents and two older sisters. He is of Italo-Albanian descent; his family is originally from San Fele, Basilicata, as well as from the Arbëresh Albanian community of Calabria. He was raised in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He lived a few miles away from the original Jersey Mike's location and would eat there frequently, which would inspire him to become the sub shop's first celebrity spokesman in a line of commercials that began to air in September 2022.
DeVito was raised as a Catholic. When he was 14, he persuaded his father to send him to boarding school to "keep him out of trouble", and graduated from Oratory Preparatory School in Summit, New Jersey, in 1962. While working as a beautician at his sister's salon, his search for a professional makeup instructor led him to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he graduated in 1966. In his early theater days, he performed with the Colonnades Theater Lab at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Along with his future wife Rhea Perlman, he appeared in plays produced by the Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective.
== Career ==
=== Acting ===
Before he became an actor, Danny DeVito worked in a morgue as a cosmetologist, styling the hair of the deceased. He began this after a client of his died where he worked as a beautician at his sister's salon in New Jersey, and her family asked him to do her hair for her funeral. DeVito started his career acting off-Broadway in the plays Shoot Anything With Hair That Moves and The Man with the Flower in His Mouth both in 1969. DeVito played Martini in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest directed by Milos Forman, reprising his role from the 1971 off-Broadway play of the same title. He had his feature film debut in the drama Dreams of Glass (1970). Early film roles include Lady Liberty (1971), Hurry Up, or I'll Be 30 (1973) and Deadly Hero (1975).
In 1977, DeVito played the role of John "John John the Apple" DeAppoliso in the Starsky & Hutch episode "The Collector". DeVito gained fame in 1978 playing Louie De Palma, the short but domineering dispatcher for the fictional Sunshine Cab Company, on the hit TV show Taxi. For his performance he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. He got the role by astonishing the show's creators during the audition when asking them "Who wrote this shit?" then throwing the script on the table.
After his breakthrough on the sitcom Taxi, DeVito devoted more effort to a growing successful film career. He took a supporting role as Vernon Dalhart in the James L. Brooks directed comedy-drama Terms of Endearment (1983) acting alongside Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson. The film earned critical acclaim as well as the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The following year, he acted in the crime comedy Johnny Dangerously (1984) and took the role as the comic rogue Ralph in the romantic adventure Romancing the Stone (1984), starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner; and its sequel, The Jewel of the Nile (1985). In 1986, DeVito starred in Ruthless People with Bette Midler and Judge Reinhold and also voiced the character Grundle King in My Little Pony: The Movie. In 1987, he acted in director Barry Levinson's Tin Men, as a rival salesman to Richard Dreyfuss' character. DeVito also acted opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the comedies Twins (1988) and Junior (1994).
In 1990, he and Rhea Perlman played the couple Vic & Paula, commenting on the state of the environment in The Earth Day Special. The following year, he acted in Other People's Money (1991) with Gregory Peck. In 1991 and 1992, DeVito voiced Herb Powell in The Simpsons episodes "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". In 1992, he portrayed the villain Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin in director Tim Burton's Batman Returns acting opposite Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken. That same year he directed and produced the biographical drama film Hoffa starring Jack Nicholson. He also acted in the film portraying Bobby Ciaro. In 1993, he played a single father in the comedy-drama film Jack the Bear.
In 1995, DeVito appeared in the gangster comedy Get Shorty. In 1996, he took supporting roles as Swackhammer in the Looney Tunes live-action / animated sports comedy Space Jam and reunited with Tim Burton's science fiction comedy Mars Attacks! starring Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Martin Short and Natalie Portman.
In 1997, he played Deck Shifflet in the legal thriller The Rainmaker starring Matt Damon and Claire Danes as well as Sid Hudgens, editor of a sleazy tabloid called Hush-Hush, who gets tips ahead of time of celebrity arrests in the neo-noir thriller L.A. Confidential with Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey, the latter of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. That same year he also voiced Phil in the Walt Disney Animated film Hercules (1997). Leonard Klady of Variety praised the voice performances writing, "As in Aladdin, the melding of character animation with the screen personae of the actors voicing the roles provides forceful and amusing entertainment, particularly in DeVito's turn as a physical trainer and the acid wit James Woods brings to his villainous role."
He starred in Living Out Loud (1998) alongside Helen Hunt and Queen Latifah, reunited with Kevin Spacey in The Big Kahuna (1999) and hosted the last Saturday Night Live episode before the year 2000. In 1999, he produced and co-starred in the biographical drama film Man on the Moon, a film about the unusual life of his former Taxi co-star Andy Kaufman, played in the film by Jim Carrey. He also played Dr. Hornicker in the Sofia Coppola directed The Virgin Suicides (1999) starring Kirsten Dunst. He continued to take roles in comedy films such as Drowning Mona (2000), Screwed (2000), What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Anything Else (2003) and Be Cool (2005). He also acted in the drama films Heist (2001) and Big Fish (2003). He earned a 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for his role of a stripper in the NBC sitcom Friends,
In 2006, he joined the cast of the FX / FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Frank Reynolds. DeVito stars opposite Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson and Charlie Day. The character of Frank Reynolds is introduced at the beginning of Season 2. He received a nomination for the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series. DeVito said of the show "I loved it. It was fucking outrageous just the way they are. I immediately said, 'Yeah, this is an amazing show.'" Also in 2006 he starred opposite Matthew Broderick in the Christmas comedy film Deck the Halls.
DeVito has an interest in documentaries. In 2006 he began a partnership with Morgan Freeman's company ClickStar, for whom he hosts the documentary channel Jersey Docs. He was also interviewed in the documentary Revenge of the Electric Car, discussing his interest in and ownership of electric vehicles. DeVito has directed eight short films between 1973 and 2016, five of which were released across 2010 and 2011. These are The Sound Sleeper (1973), Minestrone (1975), Oh Those Lips (2010), Evil Eye (2010), Poison Tongue (2011), Skin Deep (2011), Nest of Vipers (2011) and Curmudgeons (2016). In 2010, DeVito appeared in the romantic comedy When in Rome. In 2011, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television. In 2012, he voiced the title character in the animated version of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. He appeared in the Angry Birds Friends "Champions for Earth" tournament advertisement in September 2015. Following the Japanese release of the Nintendo 3DS game Detective Pikachu, dedicated Pokémon fans submitted a 40,000-signature petition requesting that DeVito be the English voice actor for the title character. However, he declined to audition for the role, commenting that he was unfamiliar with the franchise.
In April 2012, DeVito made his West End acting debut in a revival of the Neil Simon play The Sunshine Boys as Willie Clark, alongside Richard Griffiths. It previewed at the Savoy Theatre in London from April 27, 2012, opened on May 17 and played a limited 12-week season until July 28. DeVito played a fictional version of himself in the music video of One Direction's song "Steal My Girl" (2014). He also appeared in the short film Curmudgeons, which he also produced and directed. In 2013, he would voice Herb for a third time in the episode "The Changing of the Guardian". DeVito made his Broadway debut in a Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Arthur Miller play The Price as Gregory Solomon. He acted opposite Mark Ruffalo and Tony Shalhoub. Marilyn Stasio of Variety praised DeVito's performance writing, "DeVito, who holds the audience in the palm of his hand, tends to favor the comic side, making an extended meal out of an egg-eating visual gag. But he also draws on down-to-earth Jewish wisdom to keep family hostilities from boiling over and spoiling the financial negotiations". He went on to be nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. The production began preview performances at the American Airlines Theatre on February 16, 2017, and opened on March 16 for a limited run-through on May 7.
In 2016, DeVito appeared as part of the ensemble cast of Todd Solondz's anthology film Wiener-Dog. In 2018, he had a guest starring role in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method acting opposite Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. He also voiced Dorgle in the Warner Bros. animated film Smallfoot (2018). The following year in 2019 he reunited with Tim Burton playing Max Medici in the live action Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Dumbo, a remake of the 1941 animated film. He acted alongside Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton and Eva Green. He also played Eddie Gilpin in the action comedy film Jumanji: The Next Level starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan. The film was a box office and critical success. In 2020 he voiced Bob, a stray dog in The One and Only Ivan. In 2021 he played Charlie Goldman the biographical HBO drama film The Survivor. That same year DeVito wrote a 12-page story centered on the Penguin and Catwoman for the anthology comic Gotham City Villains. In 2023 he acted in the Disney horror comedy Haunted Mansion, Chris Pine's directorial film debut Poolman and the Illumination animated film Migration. Also in 2023 he returned to Broadway in the Theresa Rebeck play I Need That.
=== Directing ===
DeVito made his directorial debut in 1984 with The Ratings Game. In 1986, he directed and starred in the black comedy "The Wedding Ring", a season 2 episode of Steven Spielberg's anthology series Amazing Stories, where his character acquires an engagement ring for his wife (played by DeVito's real-life wife, actress Rhea Perlman). When the ring is slipped on his wife's finger, she is possessed by the ring's former owner, a murderous black widow. In 1987 he made his feature-directing debut with the dark comedy Throw Momma from the Train, in which he starred with Billy Crystal and Anne Ramsey. For his performance he earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.
DeVito reunited with Jewel of the Nile co-stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in 1989 when he directed and starred alongside them in The War of the Roses. In 1996 he directed Matilda (1996), a film adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1988 classic children's novel of the same name. Critic Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "There is never a moment (except toward the happy ending) that we sense DeVito is anything other than quite serious about this material. He goes with Dahl's macabre vision." He also served as the Narrator and played the villainous used-car dealer father Harry Wormwood opposite his wife Rhea Perlman. The following year, he was in talks to direct the crime drama The Little Things with Robert De Niro at that time set to star, and The Crowded Room with Leonardo DiCaprio. Both projects were eventually realized in the 2020s, but without DeVito's involvement.
In 1997, DeVito was in talks for a $13-million deal to both star in and direct Mystery Men, but negotiations broke down over who would produce the soundtrack. "It was a big deal for me," DeVito said. "I really wanted it, so I walked away from the project."
In 1998, he committed to star in and direct both the sci-fi film Barthe for TriStar, about an alien who falls in love, and a remake of The Man Who Came to Dinner for DreamWorks. In 1999, DeVito was attached to star, direct and produce Jason Keller's spec script Sugar's Sweet Science of Bruising for New Line Cinema.
For the next two years, DeVito was attached to film Michael Petroni's Revelations, a "supernatural religious thriller" that was to have starred George Clooney. The project was delayed due to rewrites however. DeVito was also at one time attached to direct How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. He instead resurfaced with Death to Smoochy (2002) and Duplex (2003), which were made back-to-back. Before the release of the latter, DeVito agreed to direct a remake of 1942's I Married a Witch for Tom Cruise and Columbia Pictures, announcing to Variety that he hoped to begin production by the end of the year.
Instead of I Married a Witch, he sought to make Trump vs. Wynn as his next directorial project after receiving an offer from HBO. Written by Rick Cleveland, the script chronicles business tycoons Donald Trump and Steve Wynn's competition to build a casino in Atlantic City. DeVito was expected to direct, produce and star in an unspecified role, but he dropped out after meeting with both figures, who protested the film's production.
He directed the pilot episode for a proposed 2005 Imagine TV sitcom Queen B, which was not picked up by the network for series.
In 2009, it was reported that DeVito would direct and produce the biopic Crazy Eddie, based on the life of consumer electronics king Eddie Antar, from a script by Peter Steinfeld. However the film could not be made due to a life rights deal that was made with Antar. Instead, he pivoted to making the apocalyptic horror thriller St. Sebastian, which completed post-production in 2012 but to this day has not been released. DeVito also worked on the independently financed Honeymoon with Dad, a comedy which never went into production.
DeVito has written a film adaptation of and been, since 2008, attached to direct The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle with Morgan Freeman, Pierce Brosnan and Saoirse Ronan starring. The production was halted when Freeman was seriously injured in a car accident two weeks before filming was scheduled to commence. DeVito returned to the subject in February 2013, saying he was looking for another young actress to star in the title role and scouting movie locations in Ireland. Production was expected to restart in July 2014. The release date is still classified as "TBD" without any new information as to whether it will be shot.
=== Producing ===
DeVito founded Jersey Films in 1991, producing films like Pulp Fiction (1994), Get Shorty (1995), Erin Brockovich (2000) (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture), Gattaca (1997) and Garden State (2004).
DeVito also produced the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, the film spin-off Reno 911!: Miami and the revival on Quibi.
In 2019, his company Jersey Films optioned the screen rights to make a film of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, by Dan Fagin.
== Personal life ==
DeVito stands 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) tall. His short stature is the result of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (Fairbank's disease), a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth.
On January 17, 1971, DeVito met Rhea Perlman when she went to see a friend in the single performance of the play The Shrinking Bride, which featured DeVito. They moved in together two weeks later and married on January 28, 1982. They have three children: Lucy, Grace and Jacob.
Perlman and DeVito have acted alongside each other several times, including in the television show Taxi and the feature film Matilda (where they played Matilda's parents). They separated in October 2012, after 30 years of marriage and over 40 years together, then reconciled in March 2013. They separated for a second time in March 2017, but remained on amicable terms and Perlman stated they had no intent of filing for divorce. In 2019, Perlman told interviewer Andy Cohen that she and DeVito have become closer friends after their separation than they were in their final years as a couple.
Before their separation, DeVito and Perlman resided in a 14,579-square-foot (1,354 m2) house in Beverly Hills, California, that they purchased in 1994; they sold the property for US$24 million in April 2015. They still own a bungalow near Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and a multi-residence compound on Broad Beach in Malibu. They also frequented a home they owned in Interlaken, New Jersey, to get away from Los Angeles.
DeVito has mentioned being a big fan of singer Mike Patton's various musical projects, being introduced to his work through his son Jacob in 2005. DeVito collaborated with Patton on a music video and has attended several of his concerts, with Perlman contributing an introductory voiceover to an album by Mr. Bungle, one of Patton's bands. In 2016, DeVito also included music from Patton's band Faith No More on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
== Acting credits and accolades ==
DeVito has an extensive film career, dating back to the early 1970s.
Selected work: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Dark_Twisted_Fantasy | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 22, 2010. It was primarily produced by West, alongside Mike Dean, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, RZA, Bink, and DJ Frank E. Guest appearances include Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Bon Iver, Raekwon, and Elton John.
Retreating to a self-imposed exile in Hawaii after a period of controversy in 2009 following his interruption of Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards, West recorded at Honolulu's Avex Recording Studio in a communal environment with numerous musicians. Additional recording took place at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and Electric Lady and Platinum Sound in New York City. Critics noted the maximalist aesthetic and opulent production with elements from West's previous work, including soul, pop, baroque, electro, and symphonic, with progressive rock influences. Lyrically, it explores West's celebrity status, consumer culture, self-aggrandizement, and the idealism of the American Dream.
Alongside several free songs released through the weekly GOOD Fridays series, West supported My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with four US Billboard Hot 100 top-40 singles, "Power", "Runaway", "Monster", and "All of the Lights". West also released an accompanying musical short film, Runaway (2010). My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy received acclaim from critics, who considered it a return to form for West and praised the maximalist approach, production, themes, and variety. Many publications listed it as the best album of 2010, and it won Best Rap Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards and CD of the Year at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart, while reaching the top 10 in six other countries. It was certified triple platinum in the United States, and received sales certifications in a few other territories. In retrospect, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has been regarded as West's magnum opus; several publications, including Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, have ranked it as the best album of the 2010s and among the greatest of all time.
== Background ==
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy evolved from Good Ass Job, which Kanye West had planned as the conclusion of a college-themed tetralogy that began with The College Dropout (2004). He adhered to the plan with Late Registration (2005) and Graduation (2007), but after the death of his mother Donda West and his breakup with his fiancée Alexis Phifer, he pivoted to the electropop project 808s & Heartbreak (2008). While industry publications and collaborators reported that West would follow 808s & Heartbreak with Good Ass Job, in private, West had lost interest in continuing the plan. He explained to MTV News in October 2010 that he "didn't want to... have to stick to the skits" and other conventions of his previous albums.
West conceived My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at Avex Recording Studio during his self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii, in 2009, following a period of public-image controversy. West said that fatigue from overworking led to his controversial outburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) when the singer Taylor Swift was awarded Best Female Video at the ceremony. West then went on stage, stole the mic from Swift who was 19 at the time, and said "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but, Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!" West then shrugged and gave the mic back to Swift. He was disgusted with the media response, which led to a brief hiatus from recording. He observed at the time of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's release that Swift never defended him in any interviews, saying she continuously "rode the waves" from the controversy. West had held recording sessions at the same studio as 808s & Heartbreak.
In response to the backlash, West's scheduled tour Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga with the singer Lady Gaga to promote 808s & Heartbreak was cancelled on October 1, 2009. In 2010, he explained to Ellen DeGeneres the incident served as motivation for his works because he felt like "a soldier of culture", realizing no one wants this to be his role and admitted he will continuously "feel convicted about things that really meant stuff to culture that constantly get denied for years". In 2013, West said that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy served as a backhanded apology after his VMAs outburst, detailing that he used the music to become accepted again. He elaborated that a minimum of 80 percent was genuine, with the remainder "fulfilling a perception" for the public. West insisted that he was not criticizing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and instead failed to reach satisfaction, then openly revealed his idea of the truth.
== Recording and production ==
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was recorded at Avex in Honolulu, Hawaii. Additional recording took place at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and at Electric Lady Studios and Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City. It was reported that West spent around $3 million provided by his record label Def Jam to record the album, making it one of the most expensive albums ever made. He explained the initial recording process to Noah Callahan-Bever, the editor-in-chief of Complex and West's then-confidant, telling him he had resided in Hawaii accompanied by his favorite producers and artists to work on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and provide inspiration. Various contributors engaged in sessions with West for the album, including Kid Cudi, Elton John, Rick Ross, Pusha T, and Justin Vernon. Vocals were also recorded by M.I.A., Mos Def, Santigold, and Seal. Producers who contributed in the sessions included Q-Tip, RZA, Pete Rock, Madlib, Statik Selektah, and DJ Premier. Madlib said he made five beats for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, while DJ Premier revealed his work did not make the final cut.
West block-booked the three session rooms of Avex simultaneously for 24 hours a day to work on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, until he felt it was complete. According to Callahan-Bever, when West "hits a creative wall", he changes to another studio room to work on a different song. Sheets of paper were posted on one side of the studio with what were known as "Kanye Commandments", such as "No Tweeting" and "No Pictures". West never slept a full night there, opting instead to take power naps on a studio chair or couch in 90-minute intervals when working during the night. Engineers worked a similar schedule, remaining active 24 hours a day. The heavy work ethic led to West and his crew having multi-course breakfasts each morning at his Diamond Head residence, cooked by in-house chefs. Later in the mornings after breakfast, West and most of the crew played games of 21 against locals at the Honolulu YMCA for leisure. Kid Cudi smoked marijuana in preparation and worked out on a treadmill, while RZA exercised in the weight room.
Throughout the album's development, West enlisted other producers and musicians for opinions. At the studio, they went through various conversations and contributions. Observing these discussions during a visit, Callahan-Bever noted that despite the presence of prominent musicians, "the egos rarely clash; talks are sprawling, enlightening, and productive" around the future, present, and past. Q-Tip described the process as "music by committee" and elaborated on its significance to the sessions and West's work ethic:
He'll go, 'Check this out, tell me what you think.' Which speaks volumes about who he is and how he sees and views people. Every person has a voice and an idea, so he's sincerely looking to hear what you have to say—good, bad, or whatever ... When he has his beats or his rhymes, he offers them to the committee and we're all invited to dissect, strip, or add on to what he's already started. By the end of the sessions, you see how he integrates and transforms everyone's contributions, so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He's a real wizard at it. What he does is alchemy, really.
The rapper Pusha T characterized My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as "a collage of sounds" and found West's recording methods unorthodox. He explained that when the team thought they were focused on a song, West would hear the work of a record producer such as Jeff Bhasker and his attention would be captured as he went through "his mental Rolodex" to the most suitable point for it on the album. Expressing a similar sentiment, the rapper Malik Yusef said that he was mocked for his vision of incorporating collaborators from genres outside hip-hop like John. DJ Premier recalled that West insisted to him during the production for no electro, describing him as "that crazy dude he's always been" and pointing out his focus on the album's rawness.
West ensured that the recording sessions were secretive, placing paper sheets in the studio reading "no tweeting, no talking, no e-mailing", and also prohibiting speaking with people outside of the location. Pusha T recalled West's attitude in an interview for Rolling Stone, saying that following a leak he remembered his strictness, "Fuck this! We're not going to ever work there again!" In October 2010, West tweeted that the recording of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had been finished.
== Musical style ==
The music was described as maximalist hip-hop by numerous publications, incorporating East Coast rap, boom bap, R&B ballads, electronic music, and progressive rock samples. Various writers also noticed elements from West's previous four albums. The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey thought that West had adopted the skills of his collaborators from the five years before My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which he sometimes uses to an increased level. West incorporates lush soul from The College Dropout, orchestration from Late Registration, a rich atmosphere from Graduation, and emotionally tired electro from 808s & Heartbreak. Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal and AllMusic's Andy Kellman wrote My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy seamlessly combines elements from West's earlier albums; Kellman felt that "All of the Lights" denotes its varied elements and "maniacal extravagance". David Amidon of PopMatters observed the pop sound of Graduation and 808s & Heartbreak.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was described as a progressive rap record by Carl Williott of Idolator and Rolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten, with the latter noting that it came at the time of lower album budgets. The album draws elements from varied genres like progressive rock, soul, and old-school rap, moving towards a new sound. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy follows a dense, wide scope of styles; Al Horner from NME called it a rap opera. The author Kirk Walker Graves thinks West became a collagist, who makes a bold and vulnerable work of art from "scattered pop shards and indelible beats".
== Lyrics and themes ==
West's lyrics explore themes of excess, celebrity, grandiosity, self-aggrandizement, self-doubt, romance, escapism, decadence, and sex. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy also openly acknowledges alcohol and drug usage more than West's previous albums. West places an introspective focus on fame, detailing the perks of power that he links to neoliberalism. He addresses deep personal insecurities, although philosopher Julius Bailey writes that he embraced his narcissism in contrast to the chipmunk soul on The College Dropout. West displays varied emotions, which range from lows to highs of his mental state. He conveys feelings of despair with his public image since 808s & Heartbreak, depicting his out-of-control world. According to author Bernadette Marie Calafell, West used My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to celebrate monstrosity after his troubled year.
West ventures into the id of his own ego on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, showing his perspective as a celebrity. He poses a risk of self-destruction with the id, while perusing any goal or girl he can and driven by the buzz of consumer culture, despite ultimately being unsatisfied. Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times depicted the songs as "pornographic boasts, romantic disaster stories, devil-haunted dark nights of the soul" and perceived West as not welcome nor sure about the purpose of his presence due to the discussion of race. Powers felt that rather than an issue for West, it is the inherent curse of author Michael Eric Dyson's theory of "the exceptional black man" whose talents are welcomed, but he is excluded for his skin color. According to Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield, the album serves as "a rock-star manifesto" in a world where expectations have generally lowered.
== Songs ==
=== Tracks 1–7 ===
The album begins with "Dark Fantasy", opened by rapper Nicki Minaj narrating a rework of Roald Dahl's 1982 poem Cinderella, followed by a chorus including Auto-Tuned "oohs" and "ah-ah-ah-aahs", as well as backing accents. The song introduces the themes of decadence and hedonism, with West musing how it had been planned to drink to release pain, "But what's worse, the pain or the hangover?" The track's lyrics contain musical and popular culture references, including fellow rapper Nas, the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", British singer Leona Lewis, and the song "Sex on Fire" by Tennessee rock band Kings of Leon. "Gorgeous" is an uplifting blues-styled track, relying on a guitar riff juxtaposed with melodic piano. The track is seen by Graves as West's "scattershot mission statement" and it sees him tackling racial injustices, including comparing himself to black rights activist Malcolm X with the title "Malcolm West". "Power" features a dark production that relies on a sample of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" (1969), which Fennessey found to be "apocalyptic" and it is accompanied by chants loosely resembling a choir. West delves into escapism on the song, mentioning his struggles with the public and narrating his vision of a career suicide.
"All of the Lights" incorporates drum 'n' bass breaks, energetic percussion, and horn instruments. The opening lines mention the death of Michael Jackson and present the narrative of a man who goes through multiple issues including abusing his lover and serving prison time. West enlisted 11 guest vocalists for the song, including Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tony Williams, and Elly Jackson; Rihanna sings the hook. In an interview with MTV, Jackson said that West designated her to layer up the vocal arrangement with other people as he simply used his favorite vocalists worldwide "to create this really unique vocal texture on his record, but it's not the kind of thing where you can pick it out". "Monster" is a posse cut, which features staccato strings that invoke paranoia and it was described by Calafell as addressing critics through exploration of their "monstrous construction" of West. West raps about using inappropriate methods to drown his pain and Nicki Minaj asserts her queen status on the song. The fellow posse cut "So Appalled" is built around piano and strings, with the performers delivering their odes to success and affirming that "this shit is/fucking ridiculous".
=== Tracks 8–13 ===
"Devil in a New Dress" is built on a sample of Smokey Robinson's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (1960). The lyrics range from self-criticism to warning and lust to heartache, with its sexual and religious imagery described by one critic as "part bedroom allure, part angelic prayer". The song is the only track without production by West, yet features his characteristic style of manipulating the pitch and tempo of classic soul samples. "Runaway" contains a piano-based motif comprising a series of uninterrupted descending half and whole notes, with a coda that incorporates cello at first, before a violin section and West's vocoder-singing, which is distortion that covers the final three minutes. West uses the song's lyrics to address public opinion and his character issues, proclaiming a toast to all with those flaws. Fennessey cited "Runaway" as the point in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy where "self-laceration overtakes chest-beating", while Graves is taken aback by how the song contains all of its contradictions; "self-mythologizing, rife with hubris, [and] assertively 'artistic' to the point of unintentional parody".
Inspired by West's two-year relationship with model Amber Rose, "Hell of a Life" samples the Mojo Men's "She's My Baby" (1966) and follows a narrative of marrying a porn star that Graves calls "pornographic anxiety". According to Dombal, the song "attempts to bend its central credo—'no more drugs for me, pussy and religion is all I need'—into a noble pursuit". He wrote that it crosses the lines of "fantasy and reality, sex and romance, love and religion, until no lines exist at all". "Blame Game" is a low-key track that is built around a sample of Richard D. James's piano composition "Avril 14th" (2001), and features additional vocals from Legend. The song focuses on a painful domestic dispute where West and a woman go back and forth aggressively, and contains a profane skit by comedian Chris Rock.
"Lost in the World" features tribal drums and prominent samples from the indie folk band Bon Iver's "Woods" (2009), with West applying the sample "as the centerpiece of a catchy, communal reverie". West enthusiastically told Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon when listening to the song, "Fuck, this is going to be the festival closer." It features several musical changes, beginning with Vernon's faint vocals, followed by 4/4 drums, a gospel chorus, and increased tempo, and a final measured tempo. "Lost in the World" transitions into the closing track "Who Will Survive in America". It serves as the album's coda and samples jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron's "Comment No. 1" (1970), a surrealist piece delivered by him in spoken word about the African American experience and the fated idealism of the American dream. Scott-Heron's original speech is edited to an excerpt that, according to Kot, "retains its essence, that of an African-American male" feeling isolated from the US and his culture. By contrast, Fennessey wrote that the seriousness of the denouement does not suit "an album that is more about the self's little nightmares than some aching societal rejection".
== Title and packaging ==
Good Ass Job remained My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's provisional title until July 28, 2010, when West announced on his newly registered Twitter account that it had been scrapped and he had been considering "a couple of titles". Music journalists reported that Dark Twisted Fantasy was among the titles under consideration. West expressed uncertainty about the title in September, tweeting: "I can't decide on my album title [...] uuuugh!!!!" He announced the final title, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, on October 5, 2010.
The album's artwork, designed by George Condo, shows West being straddled on a couch by an armless winged female, who has fearsome features and a long, spotted tail. Both are nude, with West shown holding a beer. Bailey sees Condo's style for the cover as pop surrealist and Cubist and portraying "various aspects of West's album themes". He also asserts that its royal red colour is "symbolic of passion, love, anger, and, of course, blood", marked by the starkness. According to Vulture writer Dan Kois, the mythological figure straddling West is "a kind of fragment, between a sphinx, a phoenix, a haunting ghost, a harpy". The artwork was done at Condo's studio, after West visited for several hours and they listened to tapes of his music. Over the next few days, the painter designed eight or nine paintings for the album. Two of them were portraits of West: an extreme closeup, with mismatched eyes and four sets of teeth; a portrait showing his head, crowned and decapitated, placed sideways on a white slab, pierced by a sword. Condo also did a painting of a dyspeptic ballerina in a black tutu and one of the crown alongside the sword in a grassy landscape. He made five covers in total, which were all included with the purchase of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A second cover that contains a painting of a ballerina was posted on the Amazon.com pre-order page. The image was originally intended to be the cover art for "Runaway", but West used a photograph of a ballerina instead. Another painting, The Priest, was completed for the album by Condo, who described it as an attempt to bring depictions of religious figures into the modern world.
West told Condo that he wanted a phoenix painting. After Condo produced with the artwork, West expressed his admiration for how they both "express ourselves with our truest vision". According to Condo, West requested the original cover image to be provocative enough to be banned by retailers, as a publicity stunt. In October 2010, a month before the album's release, West tweeted: "Yoooo they banned my album cover!!!!! Banned in the USA!!! They don't want me chilling on the couch with my Phoenix!" He also suggested Walmart had rejected the cover and cited the case of rock band Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind, which featured a photo of a naked baby. West questioned why the band are allowed to have someone nude on their cover, but he "can't have a PAINTING of a monster with no arms and a polka dot tail and wings". In response, Walmart denied the suggestion in a statement declaring the company's excitement about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and its arrival in stores. Certain retailers did not carry the original cover, with West substituting it with Condo's ballerina artwork, while some shipped copies used a pixelated version of the original.
In 2015, Billboard named the album's artwork as the 30th best of all time. The magazine wrote that West "matched the widescreen brilliance of the album's music with boundary-cracking art", including a demonic image of him "being straddled by a nude angel". In 2017, NME listed the cover as the seventh best album artwork of the 21st century so far.
== Marketing ==
Before the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West initiated the music program GOOD Fridays through his website beginning August 20, 2010, offering a free download of a new song for each Friday. West tweeted that he was aware his fans needed new music, "so I'm dropping 1 new song every weekend until Xmas" and he explained a release could be a song by him, Jay-Z, or another artist. Titled after his imprint label GOOD Music, the program generated considerable publicity ahead of the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Young Money Entertainment online marketing coordinator Karen Civil retrospectively called the program genius, detailing that West undertook a program not previously attempted and "at a point when he was the most hated person in music, he brought excitement back with his Friday releases". GOOD Fridays was intended to run until December 2010, but West extended it through to January 2011.
On September 12, 2010, West premiered "Runaway" with a live performance at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Three weeks later, on October 2, he performed the song a second time on Saturday Night Live, along with "Power". On October 4, 2010, West announced the album's release date of November 22, after he had previously tweeted that he was "contemplating my album date". He also announced that certain songs from GOOD Fridays would be included on it. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released by Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella on November 22, 2010, being made available for digital download on Amazon at a list price of $3.99. The deal was only offered by Amazon, while the album was simultaneously made available on iTunes and West's website linked to this release. Four singles were released from it and all reached the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, with the lead single "Power" released on July 1, 2010, charting at number 22. "Runaway" was released on October 4, and reached number 12, while "Monster" and "All of the Lights" were released on October 23, 2010, and January 18, 2011, respectively; they both charted at number 18.
A 35-minute film entitled Runaway, featuring the titular song's official music video, was directed by West and released on October 23, 2010. Filmed in Prague over a period of four days in the summer of 2010, the film stars West and model Selita Ebanks, with the script penned by Hype Williams and the story written by West. West described the video as an overall representation of his dreams and a reflection of feelings throughout his life, including a parallel of the situation from 2009 to 2010. He explained that it is "the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth", whom he makes his girlfriend, though she faces discrimination and eventually "has to burn herself alive and go back to her world". West elaborated how he had been deeply considering the idea of a phoenix for a while and this could be parallel to his career that he "threw a Molotov cocktail" at in 2009, then felt the need to make a comeback "as a better person". At a Runaway screening in Paris, he broke down into tears. After another screening in Los Angeles, West said that the affect his music and art has on people people inspires him to continue in his career. The film was included on a bonus DVD for the deluxe edition of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
For initial promotion of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West performed at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in late November 2010. Following the release of the album, West performed headlining sets at several large festivals in 2011, including SXSW, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Coachella; the latter was viewed by The Hollywood Reporter as "one of the great hip-hop sets of all time".
== Commercial performance ==
In its first week of release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 496,000 copies. The entry blocked Nicki Minaj's debut album Pink Friday from the top spot with 375,000 sales; the week marked the first time in two years that the chart had two albums bow with over 300,000 units. It also gave West his fourth consecutive US number-one album and surpassed the 450,000 first-week sales of 808s & Heartbreak, with the debut becoming the fourth-best sales week of 2010. The album's first-week digital sales of 224,000 units accounted for 45% of the total and stood as the fourth-highest digital copies for an album in a week.
In its second week on the Billboard 200, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy descended six places to number seven with 108,000 copies sold, marking a 78% sales decline, while remaining above Pink Friday by one place. As of July 2013, it had sold 1,300,000 copies in the United States, as reported by Nielsen SoundScan. By June 2011, the album had sold 483,000 digital copies, ranking as the second best-selling digital rap album ever. On November 23, 2020, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for pushing 3,000,000 certified units in the US. According to Billboard, as of 2022, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being chart-toppers on the Hot 100.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy became West's fourth number one album on the Canadian Albums Chart. It reached number four on the Danish Albums chart, and in March 2021, was certified double platinum by IFPI Danmark for shipments of 40,000. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy opened at number six on the ARIA Albums chart and on September 10, 2021, it was awarded a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association for over 140,000 copies shipped in Australia. The album charted within the top 10 in Norway, South Korea, New Zealand, and Switzerland. On February 20, 2026, it received a double platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry for selling 600,000 units in the United Kingdom. By 2018, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had registered a billion streams on Spotify.
== Critical reception ==
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 94, based on 45 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
Numerous reviewers highlighted West's move towards maximalism. Andy Gill of The Independent praised the album as "one of pop's gaudiest, most grandiose efforts of recent years, a no holds-barred musical extravaganza" that forgoes the concept of good taste from the beginning. Powers, writing for the Los Angeles Times, found West's artistry comparable to Pablo Picasso, reaching "the Cubist mandate of rearranging form, texture, color and space" for suggesting newer viewpoints. The album was called a work of art and West's most lavish record in a review by Time magazine's David Browne, who said it proved again that few other artists shared his ability to adeptly mix diverse elements. Steve Jones of USA Today was impressed by West's display "of sonic flavors — old school hip-hop, progressive rock, R&B, classical music" for how he combines and matches these genres, concluding his only predictability is a consistent drive to make every project his best.
Critics often looked at the album as being among West's best work. Rolling Stone's Sheffield said My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy marked West's best and most wildly inspired album, asserting that no other act was recording music as dark or maximalist; he added that he transgresses the conventions he had established himself for rap and pop music in the past five years. James Reed of The Boston Globe said that the album is "seamlessly his personal best" as West becomes self-involved in the varied styles and universal themes, standing as the most original hip-hop record of 2010, through his efforts to push the genre's boundaries. Christgau, in MSN Music, hailed it as a "world-beating return to form" for West. Michael Denslow of Consequence wrote that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy features "nine-minute rap epics" which break the traditional verse–chorus form and West manages to convey an attempt at the greatest album of all time, executing this well using "all the swagger and hype with an album that may actually be that good". The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey observed that while the album cannot be perfect as listeners "will reach to call [it]", West's point from the album is imperfection. He also noted the skillful engineering and sequencing, through the way each song transitions over like "some long night out into the hazy morning after". Pitchfork awarded the album a 10/10, the first perfect score the publication had given to a new release since Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2002. Dombal from the publication highlighted West's "blast of surreal pop excess" that the majority of artists would not even try to create.
A few reviewers were more qualified in their praise, mostly focusing on West's rapping. For The Guardian, Kitty Empire was critical of his lyrics calling women "ruthless money-grabbers" on an otherwise "herculean [...] flawed near-masterpiece". AllMusic writer Andy Kellman found West's rapping inconsistent on "a deeply fascinating accomplishment" in his catalogue and one of complicated merit that is "as fatiguing as it is invigorating, as cold-blooded as it is heart-rending, as haphazardly splattered as it is meticulously sculpted", and maintains complexity across 70 minutes. David Amidon from PopMatters desired for West to utilize his rap skills from The College Dropout and that the songs may be good yet he misses "the opportunity to provide us with answers", in spite of the lush production on one of hip-hop's "most bloated, egotistical, fantastical, flat-out amazing release[s]" for a while.
=== Rankings ===
Numerous critics and publications included My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on their year-end top albums lists. Many named it the best album of 2010, including Billboard, Time, Slant Magazine, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Spin. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was voted best album in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 2010, winning by the largest margin in the poll's history with 3,250 points. "Power", "Runaway", and "Monster" were voted in the top-10 of the Pazz & Jop singles list. Metacritic, which collates reviews of music albums, identified it as the best-reviewed album of 2010. The album stood as the first rap release to achieve this since Outkast's 2000 album Stankonia and the sixth-highest ranking of albums released in the 2010s to have at least 15 professional reviews.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy appeared on decade-end best albums lists. In 2012, Complex included it on their list of "25 Rap Albums From the Past Decade That Deserve Classic Status". In October 2013, the magazine ranked the album as the best hip-hop album of the last five years. In 2014, Pitchfork named it the best album of the 2010s so far, with Ian Cohen writing, "West broke the ground upon which the new decade's most brilliant architects built their masterworks; Bon Iver, Take Care, Channel Orange, and Good Kid, M.A.A.D City don't exist without the blueprint of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." It was later ranked as the top album of the 2010s by The A.V. Club, Billboard, and Rolling Stone. Christgau named My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the decade's eighth-best album, saying it remains "perversely superb".
In 2014, Spin named My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the eighth best album of the past 30 years, with Dan Weiss noting it is a world combining samples, interpolations, and vocalists; he expressed that West does not believe "one man should have all that power" of God, yet he "lives one hell of a life". Six years later, Marc Hogan from Pitchfork considered it among the great art pop albums of the last 20 years to "have filled the void of full-length statements with both artistic seriousness and mass appeal that was formerly largely occupied by [rock] guitar bands". In 2017, the staff of HipHopDX wrote the album is "widely considered [West's] magnum opus" and the release that made the public's perception of him positive again. EW picked My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the eighth greatest album of all time in 2016, while it was ranked 21st and 17th on the lists by NME and Rolling Stone in 2013 and 2020, respectively. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
== Industry awards ==
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy won awards for both Album of the Year and Reader's Choice: Best Album at the 2010 HipHopDX Awards, receiving over 50 percent of the vote for the latter. The album was awarded CD of the Year at the next year's BET Hip Hop Awards, while it was nominated for Outstanding Album at the 2011 NAACP Image Awards. The album received a nomination for Top Rap Album at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, though ultimately lost to fellow rapper Eminem's Recovery.
For the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was awarded Best Rap Album, while "All of the Lights" was nominated for Song of the Year, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, winning in the latter two categories. However, The Recording Academy's decision not to nominate My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for Album of the Year was viewed by many media outlets as a snub, along with the rejection of West and Jay-Z's 2011 effort Watch the Throne in the category. For the Los Angeles Times, Randall Roberts pinpointed the exclusion of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – "the most critically acclaimed album of the year, a career-defining record" – as a snub in favor of nominating less substantial albums. Time journalist Touré deemed West's nominations in minor Grammy categories as booby prizes and stated that the album was easily "the best reviewed album in many years", being lauded by critics "like nothing since Radiohead's zenith", while achieving success with over 1,200,000 sales. Touré explored possible reasons for the academy to snub West, including split votes between My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch the Throne and concerns over his past controversies, but ultimately perceived "a lack of respect for hip hop and its complexity" from those who are into music, yet lack knowledge of this genre.
Having expressed that he thought he was snubbed for major awards in the past, West responded to the Grammy nominees onstage during a concert on the Watch the Throne Tour in December 2011. West believed the snub was due to releasing Watch the Throne and My Beautiful Dark Fantasy within a year of each other, feeling he "should've just spaced it out, just a little bit more". On the 10th anniversary of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Will Lavin of NME recalled that despite winning Best Rap Album, "it was snubbed for Best Album without so much as a nomination". Two years later, Vibe listed the record as one of 10 rap albums snubbed of Album of the Year, with Preezy Brown mentioning this was "a Grammy snub that's one of the more egregious in recent memory".
== Track listing ==
Track notes
^[a] signifies a co-producer
^[b] signifies an additional producer
"Dark Fantasy" features background vocals by Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver member Justin Vernon, and additional vocals by Teyana Taylor and Amber Rose
"Gorgeous" features background vocals by Tony Williams
"Power" features additional vocals by Dwele
"All of the Lights" features additional vocals by Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Tony Williams, The-Dream, Charlie Wilson, John Legend, Elly Jackson of La Roux, Alicia Keys, Elton John, Fergie, Ryan Leslie, Drake, Alvin Fields and Ken Lewis
"Runaway" features background vocals by Tony Williams and additional vocals by The-Dream
"Hell of a Life" features additional vocals by Teyana Taylor and The-Dream
"Blame Game" features additional vocals by Chris Rock and Salma Kenas
"Lost in the World" and "Who Will Survive in America" feature additional vocals by Charlie Wilson, Kaye Fox, Tony Williams, Alicia Keys and Elly Jackson of La Roux
Sample credits
"Dark Fantasy" contains samples of "In High Places", written by Mike Oldfield and Jon Anderson, and performed by Anderson.
"Gorgeous" contains portions and elements of the composition "You Showed Me", written by Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn, and performed by The Turtles.
"Power" contains elements from "It's Your Thing", performed by Cold Grits; elements of "Afromerica", written by Francois Bernheim, Jean-Pierre Lang, and Boris Bergman, and performed by Continent Number 6; and material sampled from "21st Century Schizoid Man", composed by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, and Peter Sinfield, and performed by King Crimson.
"So Appalled" contains samples of "You Are – I Am", written by Manfred Mann, and performed by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
"Devil in a New Dress" contains samples of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and performed by Smokey Robinson.
"Runaway" contains a sample of "Expo 83", written by J. Branch, and performed by Backyard Heavies; and excerpts from Rick James Live at Long Beach, CA, 1981.
"Hell of a Life" contains samples of "She's My Baby", written by Sylvester Stewart, and performed by The Mojo Men; samples of "Stud-Spider" by Tony Joe White; and portions of "Iron Man", written by Terence Butler, Anthony Iommi, John Osbourne, and William Ward, and performed by Black Sabbath.
"Blame Game" contains elements of "Avril 14th", written and performed by Richard James.
"Lost in the World" contains portions of "Soul Makossa", written by Manu Dibango; a sample of "Think (About It)", written by James Brown, and performed by Lyn Collins; samples of "Woods", written by Justin Vernon, and performed by Bon Iver; and "Comment No. 1", written and performed by Gil Scott-Heron.
"Who Will Survive in America" contains samples of "Comment No. 1" performed by Gil Scott-Heron.
== Personnel ==
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
== Charts ==
== Certifications ==
== Release history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression | Marathon world record progression | World records in the marathon are ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
Kenyan athlete Kelvin Kiptum set a men's world record time of 2:00:35 on October 8, 2023, at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, a mixed-sex race.
Kenyan athlete Ruth Chepng'etich broke the women's world record with a time of 2:09:56 on October 13, 2024, at the 2024 Chicago Marathon, a mixed-sex race.
In addition to the standard women's marathon world record, World Athletics also recognizes a second world record for women in the "Women Only" category, meaning that the marathon was run on a course without any male athletes in the competition. The current "Women Only" record of 2:15:50 was set by Tigst Assefa on April 27, 2025, at the London Marathon in the elite women's race.
== History ==
Marathon races were first held in 1896, but the distance was not standardized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, now World Athletics) until 1921.
The actual distance for pre-1921 races frequently varied from the 1921 standard of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). In qualifying races for the 1896 Summer Olympics, Greek runners Charilaos Vasilakos (3:18:00) and Ioannis Lavrentis (3:11:27) won the first two modern marathons. On April 10, 1896, Spiridon Louis of Greece won the first Olympic marathon in Athens, Greece, in a time of 2:58:50. However, the distance for the event was 40,000 meters. Three months later, British runner Len Hurst won the inaugural Paris to Conflans Marathon (also around 40 km) in a time of 2:31:30. In 1900, Hurst would better his time on the same course with a 2:26:28 performance.
Later, Shizo Kanakuri of Japan was reported to have set a world record of 2:32:45 in a November 1911 domestic qualification race for the 1912 Summer Olympics, but this performance was also run over a distance of approximately 40 km.
The first marathon over the official distance was won by American Johnny Hayes at the 1908 Summer Olympics, with a time of 2:55:18.4.
It is possible that Stamata Revithi, who ran the 1896 Olympic course a day after Louis, is the first woman to run the modern marathon; she is said to have finished in 5+1⁄2 hours. World Athletics credits Violet Piercy's 1926 performance as the first woman to race the standard marathon distance; however, other sources report that the 1918 performance of Marie-Louise Ledru in the Tour de Paris set the initial mark for women. Other "unofficial" performances have also been reported to be world bests or world records over time: although her performance is not recognized by World Athletics, Adrienne Beames from Australia is frequently credited as the first woman to break the three-hour barrier in the marathon.
In the 1953 Boston Marathon, the top three male finishers were thought to have broken the standing world record, but Keizo Yamada's mark of 2:18:51 is considered to have been set on a short course of 25.54 miles (41.1 km). The Boston Athletic Association also does not report Yamada's performance as a world best for this reason.
On October 25, 1981, American Alberto Salazar and New Zealander Allison Roe set apparent world bests at the New York City Marathon (2:08:13 and 2:25:29), however, these marks were invalidated when the course was later found to have been 151 meters short. Although World Athletics' progression notes three performances set on the same course in 1978, 1979, and 1980 by Norwegian Grete Waitz, the Association of Road Racing Statisticians considers the New York City course suspect for those performances, too.
On April 18, 2011, the Boston Marathon produced what were at that time the two fastest marathon performances in history. Winner Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya recorded a time of 2:03:02, followed by countryman Moses Mosop in 2:03:06. However, since the Boston course does not meet the criteria for record attempts (the starting line is too high relative to the finish), these times were not ratified by the IAAF.
Eight IAAF world records were set at the Polytechnic Marathon (1909, 1913, 1952–1954, 1963–1965). WA-recognized world records have been broken at all of the original five World Marathon Majors on numerous occasions (updated 09/2022); twelve times at the Berlin Marathon, three times at the Boston Marathon, five times at the Chicago Marathon, six times at the London Marathon, and five times at the New York City Marathon. However, the records established in the Boston event have been disputed on grounds of a downhill point-to-point course, while four of the five New York records have been disputed on grounds of a short course.
== Criteria for record eligibility ==
For a performance to be ratified as a world record by World Athletics, the marathon course on which the performance occurred must be 42.195 km (26.219 mi) long, measured in a defined manner using the calibrated bicycle method (the distance in kilometers being the official distance; the distance in miles is an approximation) and meet other criteria that rule out artificially fast times produced on courses aided by downhill slope or tailwind. The criteria include:
"The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance."
"The decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand (i.e., 1m per km)."
In recognizing Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai's mark of 2:03:02 at the 2011 Boston Marathon as (at the time) "the fastest Marathon ever run", the IAAF said: "Due to the elevation drop and point-to-point measurements of the Boston course, performances [on that course] are not eligible for World record consideration."
The Association of Road Racing Statisticians, an independent organization that compiles data from road running events, also maintains an alternate marathon world best progression but with standards they consider to be more stringent.
=== Women's world record changes ===
The IAAF Congress, at the 2011 World Championships, passed a motion changing the record eligibility criteria effective October 6, 2007, so that women's world records must be set in all-women competitions. The result of the change was that Radcliffe's 2:17:42 performance at the 2005 London Marathon supplanted her own existing women's mark as the "world record"; the earlier performance is to be referred to as a "world best".
Per the 2021 IAAF Competition Rules, "a World Record for performance achieved in mixed sex ("Mixed") races and a World Record for performance achieved in single sex ("Women only") races" are tracked separately.
=== Unofficial record attempts ===
In December 2016, Nike, Inc., announced that three top distance runners — Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese, and Lelisa Desisa — had agreed to forgo the spring marathon season to work with the company in an effort to run a sub-two-hour marathon.
The Breaking2 event took place in the early morning of May 6, 2017; Kipchoge crossed the finish line with a time of 2:00:25. This time was more than two minutes faster than the world record at the time.
Kipchoge took part in a similar attempt to break the two-hour barrier in Vienna on October 12, 2019, as part of the Ineos 1:59 Challenge. He successfully ran the first sub-two-hour marathon distance, with a time of 1:59:40.2. The effort did not count as a new world record under IAAF rules due to the setup of the challenge. Specifically, it was not an open event, Kipchoge was handed fluids by his support team throughout, the run featured a pace car, and included rotating teams of other runners pacing Kipchoge in a formation designed to reduce wind resistance and maximize efficiency. The achievement was recognized by Guinness World Records with the titles 'Fastest marathon distance (male)' and 'First marathon distance run under two hours' instead of an official world record.
=== Men ===
The edition of the marathon is linked on some of the dates.
=== Women ===
== Gallery of world record holders == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_Kristof | Emory Kristof | Emory Kristof (November 19, 1942 – February 6, 2023) was an American photographer. He was on the expedition that discovered the Titanic. His work has been published in National Geographic Magazine and elsewhere.
== Life and career ==
Kristof was born in Laurel, Maryland, on November 19, 1942.
Kristof participated in multiple undersea expeditions with Canadian explorers Joseph MacInnis and Phil Nuytten, including the exploration of the Breadalbane, the world's northernmost known shipwreck, and the 1995 expedition to recover the bell from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Kristof also accompanied MacInnis and Russian explorer Anatoly Sagalevich on a descent 16,400 feet into Kings Trough in the eastern North Atlantic aboard the submersible Mir 1, and on the expedition which made the IMAX film Titanica.
Kristof served as Supervising Producer of 2003 IMAX documentary, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, about the ecosystems surrounding hydrothermal vents.
Kristof died Northfield, Massachusetts, on February 6, 2023, at the age of 80.
== Awards ==
NOGI Awards for Arts, the Underwater Society of America, 1988
Northeast Diver of the Year, Beneath the Sea, 1988
The J. Winton Lemon Fellowship Award, National Press Photographers Association, 1998
Wired (magazine) 25, Class of 1998 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Boys_II | Bad Boys II | Bad Boys II is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and the sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys, in addition to being the second film in the Bad Boys film series. Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Theresa Randle, and Joe Pantoliano reprise their roles from the previous film, and they are joined by new cast members including Jordi Mollà, Gabrielle Union, and Peter Stormare. The film follows detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey investigating the flow of illegal drugs going into Miami.
The film was released on July 18, 2003, by Sony Pictures Releasing under the Columbia Pictures label. It received generally negative reviews from critics; however, it performed well commercially, grossing $273 million worldwide, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2003. Two sequels, Bad Boys for Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, were released in 2020 and 2024, respectively.
== Plot ==
Eight years after taking down Fouchet, Miami PD detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are investigating drug trafficking of MDMA in Miami. They infiltrate a Ku Klux Klan meeting, only to discover that they are buyers, not distributors. After a radio malfunction leads to a delayed arrival of the Miami Police's Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), Mike and Marcus end up in a shootout with the Klansmen. While covering Marcus, Mike inadvertently shoots him in the buttocks.
These antics reinforce Marcus's doubt about whether he should stay partners with Mike, who is secretly dating Syd, Marcus's younger sister. Marcus waits to tell Mike he's transferring out of the TNT Unit. Unbeknownst to both, Syd works undercover for the DEA as a money launderer for the Russian mafia branch in Miami, who are acting as middleman distributors via their nightclubs for drug lord Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia.
After laundering the money, Syd is intercepted by a Haitian American Zoe Pound gang while transporting it. Mike and Marcus, following an informant's tip, engage in a massive gun battle and car chase through Miami and the MacArthur Causeway, causing major damage. Captain Howard reprimands them and is upset that the DEA is investigating the city without his knowledge.
Mike and Marcus track down the Haitians, interrogate the leader, and learn from a video that Tapia uses a local mortuary as a front. They pose as pest exterminators at Tapia's Miami home for more intel. Meanwhile, Tapia strong-arms the Russian Mafia boss Alexei into signing over ownership of all the Florida nightclubs owned by the Russian mafia by dismembering his lieutenant Josef and threatening Alexei's family, thereby giving Tapia uncontested control of the Miami illegal drug trade. Mike and Marcus stumble upon the remains of Josef during their search and take a severed finger for an ID. Impressed with Syd's work, Tapia starts a mixed business-personal relationship with her, planning for her to launder all his money.
Later, Mike and Marcus infiltrate Tapia's mortuary. Inside, they discover that Tapia is using cadavers and coffins to smuggle drugs and money in and out of the country. The evidence is sufficient for Captain Howard to authorize a raid on both Tapia's residence and the mortuary, in collaboration with the DEA and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Almost all of Tapia's drug supply and money are confiscated in the raid. Tapia flees to Cuba with Syd as a hostage after learning she is a DEA agent during the raid on his home. He demands his money back in 48 hours, using Syd as a bargaining chip. Mike and Marcus form a black-ops team with the DEA, TNT, and Howard's contacts from the CIA to rescue Syd. They are inserted by the Coast Guard off Cuba, where they meet Tito, Vargas's brother, who leads the local Alpha 66 resistance. Tito helps with weapons, tunnels, and mapping Tapia's mansion.
The team raids Tapia's mansion, rescues Syd, and leaves a large explosive device that demolishes the mansion upon the team's exfiltration. Marcus, Mike, Syd and Tito steal a yellow Hummer H2 as they escape from Cuban military forces controlled by Tapia. Tapia survives and pursues the group, ultimately ending up outside of Guantanamo Bay. Not recognized as U.S. citizens, the Navy personnel on the base shoot at both Mike and Marcus as well as Tapia's vehicles, prompting them to stop just as they enter a live minefield. Marcus kills Tapia while the latter holds Mike at gunpoint. Tapia's body falls backward onto a mine, which obliterates his corpse.
Mike, Marcus, and Syd celebrate at a barbecue in Marcus's backyard with his family; Marcus has decided to remain partners with Mike.
== Cast ==
== Production ==
=== Development and writing ===
In August 1995, the Los Angeles Times reported that producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson were planning to make a sequel to Bad Boys, with filming set to begin in 1996. Director Tom Dey had re-written a previous draft, and was set to make his directorial debut on the film. By 1997, plans were scrapped after Sony executives were dissatisfied with the script. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris turned down an offer to direct the film. Cormac and Marianne Wibberley were asked by an executive at Jerry Bruckheimer Films to come in with an idea for the sequel, the duo wrote a first draft, pitched it, and Bruckheimer liked it.
In March 2002, it was reported that Ron Shelton was rewriting the script. Jerry Stahl was hired and did a rewrite on Shelton's script, initially brought on board for a week-long rewrite of the script, he wound up staying on for several weeks, Stahl would later claim that only snippets of his dialogue remain in the film.
John Lee Hancock was then hired by the studio and Bruckheimer to do a rewrite, Michael Bay initially balked at Bruckheimer's choice of Hancock, skeptical that the writer was right for an action movie, as Bruckheimer recalled: "I reminded Michael that John was a director himself, so he knows a director’s problems and how to solve them". Hancock was tasked with making the script less simplistic, in addition to adding subplots, and more conflict, giving each protagonist a secret. Hancock left after three weeks to start production on The Alamo. Judd Apatow was hired to do a rewrite on the script, with assistance from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, according to Rogen, he and Goldberg were broke, so Apatow gave them a bit of money to help him on the script, they ended up contributing a few gags. After Apatow's rewrite, Brian Koppelman and David Levien were brought in towards the end of shooting to do punch up work on the characters; they worked on the script for a week.
Other writers, such as Ron Bass, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, Larry Ferguson, George Gallo, Tony Gilroy, Dan Gordon, Brian Helgeland, Gregory Allen Howard, Todd Robinson, and Marshall Todd were brought in at various points throughout the developmental process to either write their own draft, or rewrite the script. The final screenplay was credited to Ron Shelton and Jerry Stahl, with story credit going to Shelton and the Wibberleys.
=== Filming ===
Principal photography took place between July and December 2002, mostly in Miami. The eastbound lanes for MacArthur Causeway were shut down in early August 2002 to allow filming. Filming also occupied one side of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, while 2 Fast 2 Furious was shot on the other side around the same time.
== Music ==
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Bad Boys II was a financial success. For its opening weekend, the film generated $46.5 million, making it the fourth-highest opening weekend for an R-rated film, behind The Matrix Reloaded, Hannibal and 8 Mile. It managed to beat out Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (another Bruckheimer production) to reach the number one spot. Although Bad Boys II dropped into third place behind the latter film and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over with a 52.6% decline, it still made $22 million while keeping above Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life and Seabiscuit. In the United Kingdom, it made $10 million, making it the country's second-highest-grossing film released in October 2003, behind Finding Nemo. The film made $138 million North America and $135 million in other territories, totaling $273 million worldwide against a budget of $130 million, almost twice the gross of the original film, and was the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2003.
=== Critical response ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, Bad Boys II holds an approval rating of 23% based on 183 reviews. The site's critical consensus states, "Two and a half hours of explosions and witless banter." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, same as the first film.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one out of a possible four stars, especially offended by one scene involving a teenage boy and the use of the N-Word, saying, "The needless cruelty of this scene took me out of the movie and into the minds of its makers. What were they thinking? Have they so lost touch with human nature that they think audiences will like this scene?" On an episode of At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, film critic Richard Roeper named Bad Boys II the worst film of 2003.
James Berardinelli of ReelViews was even more negative about the film, rating it half a star out of four and stating: "Bad Boys II isn't just bad - it's a catastrophic violation of every aspect of cinema that I as a film critic hold dear." Jon Caramanica of The Village Voice explained that "Bad Boys 2 plays like a flashy highlight reel from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City." Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine gave the film zero out of four stars, stating that "Michael Bay's latest jingoistic fetish film, Bad Boys II, could be the most vile creation to come out of Hollywood since Patch Adams."
Among the more positive reviews was Seattle Post-Intelligencer critic Ellen A. Kim, who wrote that the film was "mindlessly fun... If you like this type of movie, that is." The film was also praised by a few critics and viewers for its deftly handled action sequences and visual effects.
=== Accolades ===
At the 2004 MTV Movie Awards, the film was nominated for "Best Action Sequence" for the inter-coastal freeway pursuit and "Best On-Screen Team", but lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and 50 First Dates, respectively.
Bad Boys II was nominated at the 2nd Annual Visual Effects Society Awards (VES) for "Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture".
At the 2003 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film won the award for Worst Sequel. It was also nominated for Most Intrusive Musical Score, but lost to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.
=== Megan Fox's cameo ===
In retrospect there has been criticism of director Michael Bay for the then-15-year-old Megan Fox in a scene at a strip club as a dancer, covered in water and portrayed suggestively. Megan Fox criticized Bay for this in an interview: "At 15! I was in 10th grade. That's kind of a microcosm of how Bay's mind works". Later on this caught some media attention and criticism.
Later on, Fox commented on the situation "when it comes to my direct experiences with Michael, and Steven (Spielberg) for that matter, I was never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner. I'm thankful to all of you who are brave enough to speak out and I'm grateful to all of you who are taking it upon yourselves to support, uplift, and bring comfort to those who have been harmed by a violent and toxic societal paradigm."
== In other media ==
=== Video game ===
A video game version of the film, known as Bad Boys: Miami Takedown in North America, was released in 2004 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Windows. Originally planned for release in late 2003 (to tie in with the film's DVD release), the game was delayed by several months. The game failed to deliver any sort of sales or critical acclaim due to poor development; it was given low ratings from many game websites.
== Sequel ==
In June 2008, Michael Bay stated that he may direct Bad Boys III, but that the greatest obstacle to the potential sequel would be the cost, as he and Will Smith demand some of the highest salaries in the film industry. By August 2009, Columbia Pictures had hired Peter Craig to write the script for Bad Boys III. In February 2011, Martin Lawrence reiterated that the film was in development. In June 2014, Bruckheimer announced that screenwriter David Guggenheim was working on the storyline for the sequel. Two months later, Lawrence said a script had been written and parts had been cast. By June 2015, director Joe Carnahan was in early talks to write and possibly direct the film. Two months later, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that Bad Boys III would be released on February 17, 2017, and that additional sequel, Bad Boys IV, is scheduled for release on July 3, 2019. On March 5, 2016, the film was pushed to June 2, 2017. Producers planned to begin production in early 2017. On August 11, 2016, the film was pushed back once again to January 12, 2018, to avoid box office competition with the upcoming DC Comics film Wonder Woman, and retitled Bad Boys for Life. Lawrence revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that filming may start in March 2017. On February 6, 2017, it was announced that the film's release date has been delayed for the third time, to November 9, 2018. On March 7, 2017, Carnahan left the movie due to scheduling conflicts. In August 2017, Sony removed the third film from their release schedule and later in the month Lawrence said the film would not be happening.
In February 2018, it was reported that a sequel film was again being planned and will be directed by Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, after development on Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F stalled, with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith reprising their roles. Joe Pantoliano also reprised his role as Captain Howard. Filming began in January 2019.
== Television series ==
In October 2017, a spin-off television series centered on Gabrielle Union's character, was announced to be in development by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier. Later that month NBC ordered the pilot episode of the series.
By March 2018, Jessica Alba was cast as the co-star with Gabrielle Union. In addition to Union, John Salley will also reprise his role as Fletcher, a computer hacker who helps Mike and Marcus in the film series. The following month, the title of the series was revealed as LA's Finest, with Jerry Bruckheimer serving as executive producer for the series. Later that month, NBC passed on the pilot, and the show was shopped around to other networks. NBC's boss, Bob Greenblatt, said: “These are all tough calls. We did have an embarrassment of riches. And when we laid out the schedule and the calendar all season...it was a show that didn’t fit in the grand scheme of it.”
That same month, it was revealed that Sony Pictures Television, was negotiating with Charter Communications about picking up the series. By June 2018, Canada's Bell Media picked it up for 13 episodes. Charter gave its series order on June 26, intent on making it Spectrum's first original series.
== Home media ==
Bad Boys II was released on VHS and DVD on December 9, 2003, by Columbia-TriStar Home Entertainment. A Blu-ray release followed on November 10, 2015. Bad Boys II was included in a two film collection that includes the first film which was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 4, 2018. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fico | Robert Fico | Robert Fico (Slovak: [ˈrɔbert ˈfitsɔ]; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician and lawyer who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. Fico holds the distinction as the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history. His collective time in power spans over 12 years across four distinct mandates (2006–2010, 2012–2016, 2016–2018, and the current one since 2023). He founded the left-wing political party Direction – Social Democracy in 1999 and has led the party since. His political positions have been described as populist, left-wing and conservative.
First elected to parliament in 1992, he was appointed the following year to the Czechoslovak delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Following his party's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, he formed his first Cabinet, having secured 29.1% of the vote and 50 seats. After the 2010 parliamentary election, Fico served as an opposition member of parliament, effectively holding the position of the leader of the opposition, despite winning the most votes with 34.8% and securing 62 seats. Following a motion of no confidence against the Iveta Radičová cabinet, Fico was re-appointed prime minister after leading Direction – Social Democracy to a landslide election victory in the 2012 parliamentary election, winning 44.41% of the vote and 83 seats, forming a government with an absolute majority in Parliament, the first such since 1989. In 2013, Fico declared his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election, but ultimately lost to his political rival Andrej Kiska in the second round of voting.
Fico began his third term as prime minister after Direction – Social Democracy won a plurality of the vote in the 2016 parliamentary election, securing 28.28% of the vote and 49 seats, subsequently forming a coalition government. In March 2018, owing to the political crisis following the murder of Ján Kuciak, Fico delivered his resignation to President Kiska, who then charged Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini with the formation of a new government. In the 2020 parliamentary election, his party finished second with 18.29% of the vote and 38 seats. Fico served in opposition from 2020 to 2023, a period marked by a significant split of his party, and a subsequent shift toward a populist platform. Following the 2023 parliamentary election, Fico's party emerged as the largest with 22.95% of the vote and 42 seats, which led to him forming his fourth Cabinet and returning as prime minister.
== Early life and education ==
Fico was born on 15 September 1964 in the town of Topoľčany, northwestern Nitra Region in Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. His father, Ľudovit Fico, was a forklift operator, and his mother, Emilie Ficová, worked in a shoe store. He has two siblings. His brother Ladislav is a construction entrepreneur, and his sister Lucia Chabadová, who is fourteen years younger, is a prosecutor. Fico grew up and lived with his family in the village of Hrušovany, until the age of six, when they moved to the nearby town of Topoľčany.
Fico has described his childhood ambitions as wanting to become either a politician, a sports reporter, or an archaeologist. After completing elementary school, he enrolled in the local gymnasium of Topoľčany, graduating in the summer of 1982. Later the same year, he enrolled in the Law Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava. His teachers were impressed with him, and one of his teachers from university, the future prime minister Jozef Moravčík, described him as "ambitious, very confident, and very involved in discussions." He graduated as a juris doctor in 1986, specializing in criminal law.
After graduating from university, Fico completed his mandatory military service as an assistant military investigator, stationed in the now-Czech town of Janovice, between 1986 and 1987. He later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as with the Justice Ministry until 1992. During this period, he wrote and completed his PhD degree, with a thesis on "The death penalty in Czechoslovakia". In the early 1990s, he undertook studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London under a Masaryk scholarship. In 2002, he completed his postgraduate study, earning him the title of associate professor.
== Early career (1992–2006) ==
Fico joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1986, having applied in 1984. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the collapse of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), a successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. He was first elected as a member of parliament in 1992. From 1994 to 2000 Fico represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights but lost all 14 cases which he handled. In 1998, he was elected deputy chairman of the party. Later in 1998, Fico ran for the post of general prosecutor; his party endorsed another candidate instead, arguing that Fico was too young.
In the 1998 elections that saw the fall of the government of Vladimír Mečiar, Fico received the biggest number of preferential votes among his party colleagues. A year later, when support for the SDĽ dropped below the threshold required to get into parliament, he left the party, saying he was disappointed with the way the government worked. As early as the autumn of 1998, a four-person group consisting of Fico, his associate Frantisek Határ, political strategist Fedor Flašík, and media executive Monika Flašíková-Beňová had begun to discuss and lay plans for launching a new political party. These plans were driven by the falling popularity of the existing parties and the rising popularity of Fico.
Almost immediately after leaving SDĽ, the group founded Direction (SMER), which Fico first labelled a party of the third way, with himself as leader. Fico established himself as an opposition politician, criticizing the unpopular reforms of the right-wing government of Mikuláš Dzurinda. To keep SMER from repeating the fate of his previous party, Fico introduced a strict set of regulations for his new party, called the "clean hands" policy. The rules stipulated that no one with ties to the previous Communist regime or people who had a background with other political parties was allowed to hold party office. This created a new generation of politicians uninvolved in previous corruption scandals; among them was Monika Flašíková-Beňová, Robert Kaliňák, and Pavol Paška. Another rule was that all party chapters on the regional and local levels were to be 100% financially self-sufficient, and all financial donations were to be made public to the media.
Between 2002 and 2006, Direction – Social Democracy was the main opposition party in the Slovak parliament. In 2004, it merged with nearly all the leftist parties active on the Slovak political scene, including its parent party SDĽ, becoming the single most dominant political party in Slovakia.
== First premiership (2006–2010) ==
In the 2006 Slovak parliamentary election, the Direction – Social Democracy party secured a victory, winning 50 seats and 29.1% of the vote. A significant factor in this success was Fico's criticism of the previous right-wing government's economic, tax, social, pension, and legislative reforms. These reforms had been endorsed by international bodies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the OECD. Fico promised to reverse several deeply unpopular austerity measures that had been implemented in the healthcare and education sectors under the previous administration, specifically associated with ministers Rudolf Zajac and Martin Fronc.
Following the election, Direction – Social Democracy successfully formed a coalition government. This government included Vladimír Mečiar's People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Slovak National Party (SNS), led by Ján Slota. The SNS is a right-wing populist party whose leadership has been known for making anti-Roma and anti-Hungarian remarks. These included a drunken public speech by Slota, in which he threatened to "get in tanks and level Budapest to the ground".
The inclusion of SNS immediately created strain in Slovakia's international relations. During this period, relations with neighboring Hungary deteriorated. A series of scheduled meetings between the Slovak and Hungarian prime ministers were cancelled or postponed, and those that did occur yielded minimal progress in improving the bilateral relationship.
=== Coalition crisis ===
On 10 April 2007, the deputy director of the Slovak Land Fund and HZDS nominee Branislav Bríza signed a contract based on which restitutors from eastern Slovakia became the owners of lucrative land in the Tatra village of Veľký Slavkov. These restitutors then quickly sold the land to the company GVM for 13 million Slovak crowns (Slovak currency before euro). The figurehead of the company was a friend of Mečiar, Milan Bališ. Bríza did so while his boss Hideghéty was on vacation. 10 April was the last day when Bríza had full power acting on behalf of his boss in the absence of his boss. This was the seventh suspicious contract he had signed up for at that point.
Such practices were previously criticized by Fico as they were common during the tenure of his Coalition partner, HDZS leader Mečiar. This scandal almost led to the collapse of the Coalition. It led to the Minister of Agriculture for HDZS, Miroslav Jureňa, resigning. Fico demanded that Bríza resign. The estimated damage to the state was half a billion Slovak crowns. Justice was delivered on 8 September 2015 when Bríza was deemed guilty and sentenced to 2 years' probation.
=== Schengen Area ===
Slovakia joined the Schengen Area, which abolished checks at internal borders with fellow member states, on 21 December 2007.
The successful accession was seen as a major achievement of the country's post-communist integration into European structures. At the time, Fico and his government strongly insisted on the planned 2007 accession date, pushing back against suggestions from some older EU members to delay the enlargement until 2008 or 2009. Fico celebrated the event, declaring that Slovakia had achieved a key strategic goal alongside EU membership and likened Schengen accession to the significance of the year 1989.
In 2015, Fico was a vocal proponent of strengthening the Schengen Area's external borders, particularly during the European migrant crisis. He criticized the reintroduction of internal border controls as a potential threat to the EU's free movement principle.
=== Party of European Socialists ===
Fico's political party, Direction – Social Democracy, was first accepted into the Party of European Socialists (PES) as a provisional member. The PES suspended the party in October 2006 after it formed a government coalition with the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS).
The party's provisional membership was restored on 14 February 2008, after Direction–Social Democracy and the Slovak National Party signed a letter committing themselves to respect minority rights and European values. Fico achieved full membership in the PES on 8 December 2009, at the European Socialist Congress in Prague.
=== Global financial crisis ===
Slovakia was affected by the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession due to its highly open and export-dependent economy. The main impact came not from a domestic banking crisis, but from the collapse of foreign demand for its industrial products, particularly cars and electronics. After enjoying exceptionally high GDP growth in the preceding years, the country experienced a dramatic contraction in 2009, suffering one of the steepest economic declines among developed nations. This immediate and sharp downturn was a direct result of the plunging export volumes to key trading partners, especially Germany.
In response, the Fico cabinet announced several crisis packages in early 2009, including a commitment of funds to support businesses and the introduction of more flexible labor legislation, while aiming to avoid significantly increasing the budget deficit. Fico's focus during this time was on preserving employment and maintaining economic stability amid the global recession.
A crucial mitigating factor was the country's successful entry into the Eurozone on 1 January 2009. This provided a stable currency anchor, shielding Slovakia from the severe exchange rate volatility and financial panic that affected non-Eurozone neighbors like Hungary and Poland. Despite this stability, the real economy saw mass lay-offs and a severe slowdown in its major production sectors. In essence, while the financial system was protected by joining the euro, the industrial economy was severely battered by the collapse in global trade.
=== Introduction of the Euro ===
During the 2008 financial crisis, Fico led the government's most significant achievement: successfully bringing the country into the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, becoming the 16th member of the Eurozone. This move was the completion of a process that had been started by the previous administration.
Slovakia's successful adherence to the Maastricht criteria—resulting in a relatively balanced budget and low public debt—is widely credited with helping the country withstand the initial shock better than many neighbors. However, as a small, highly open, and export-dependent economy, Slovakia was still severely impacted by a sharp drop in foreign demand, forcing the government to repeatedly slash its GDP growth forecasts.
Fico publicly championed the euro, viewing it as a vital strategic move to solidify the country's economic stability. He often emphasized that joining the Eurozone would be a major advantage, especially since it occurred during the height of the global financial crisis, arguing the euro would serve as a "protective shield".
On the day of the changeover from the Slovak koruna, Fico made a symbolic withdrawal of euros from an ATM. He was quoted as stating: "We are very happy in Slovakia because we believe that Europe will be a big success for Slovakia. Of course, we are also happy because we are going to introduce the euro at a time of deep economic crisis and Europe can be very helpful for us". He stated that the euro would "attract investors to Slovakia" and "stabilize Slovakia as a whole". He added, "The euro has come to Slovakia on New Year's Day 2009 as the best talisman one can imagine”. The introduction of the euro under Fico's premiership was seen as a key step in integration into the core of the European Union.
=== Slovak–Ukraine gas dispute (2009) ===
The 2009 Russia-Ukraine gas dispute created a severe energy crisis for Slovakia. When all Russian gas flow through Ukraine was stopped on 7 January 2009, Slovakia, along with other Central and Eastern European nations, was among the most heavily affected, forcing the Slovak government to immediately declare a state of emergency.
Faced with dwindling domestic reserves that could only cover industrial and household needs for a short period, Fico personally traveled to Kyiv to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, to demand an immediate resolution. Fico later visited Moscow where he said Ukraine was "losing the trust of European partners because of its behaviour".
As a desperate measure, Fico suggested that the government might need to resort to the "non-standard solution" of restarting the decommissioned second block of the Jaslovské Bohunice nuclear power plant to generate necessary electricity. The crisis was resolved on 18 January and Slovakia ended its state of emergency on 20 January.
=== Truckers blockade ===
In January 2010, Fico's government faced large-scale protests and a blockade of major cities by truckers, organized primarily by the Union of Road Transporters (UNAS). The protests were a strong demonstration of public opposition against the new electronic highway toll collection system launched on 1 January 2010. Truckers blockaded thoroughfares, demanding that fuel prices be lowered to offset the impact of the new tolls.
Fico initially refused to negotiate, stating he would not be "blackmailed," and constitutional officials, including Fico, condemned the media and opposition for allegedly supporting the law-breaking activities. Ultimately, after massive pressure, Fico yielded to the truckers' demands on 11 January, promising to lower the excise tax on diesel fuel.
=== Leaked voice recording ===
Shortly before the 2010 general election a voice recording, allegedly featuring a voice highly resembling Fico's, was published by the newspaper Sme on its website. In the recording, the speaker discussed potentially securing several million euros in undeclared funds for the 2002 election campaign and suggested establishing a "parallel financial structure" to support Direction – Social Democracy's future election endeavors.
Slovak media outlets covered the recording and its implications. Fico officially dismissed the recording, stating it was a forgery. Fico's reaction to the media outlets publishing this information was expressed in vulgar terms, stating: "The fact that you're all going to masturbate over this now—I hope you have a pleasant sexual experience".
The newspaper Sme later wrote that Fico had been questioned by the police concerning the matter. Former Minister of Justice Daniel Lipšic informed the press that he had officially submitted the recording to the General Attorney's Office for review.
== Leader of the Opposition (2010–2012) ==
In the 2010 Slovak parliamentary election, Fico's Direction – Social Democracy finished as the strongest party, securing a significant victory with 34.8% of the vote and 62 seats—an increase of 12 seats from the previous election. Despite this plurality, Fico faced a substantial setback in his ability to govern. Fico's coalition partners suffered crippling losses; the People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia failed to cross the 5% threshold, being shut out of parliament entirely, while the Slovak National Party was reduced to just nine seats. This decimation meant that Fico's coalition could no longer command a majority in the 150-seat National Council, reaching only 71 seats.
Although President Ivan Gašparovič initially tasked Fico with forming the new cabinet as the leader of the largest party, he was unable to secure a parliamentary majority due to the firm refusal of all other parties to join a government with him. Consequently, the government formation mandate passed to the centre-right, which coalesced around a four-party agreement. Fico said he "respects the election result" and expressed his desire to lead a resolute opposition.
== Second premiership (2012–2016) ==
Following the fall of the centre-right coalition government, Fico's Direction – Social Democracy party returned to power in the 2012 parliamentary election. Direction – Social Democracy secured 44.42% of the popular vote, which resulted in 83 out of 150 seats in the National Council. This outcome marked a significant electoral event, as Direction – Social Democracy became the first single party since the breakup of Czechoslovakia to win an absolute majority of seats.
Fico initially sought to form a national unity government with parties such as SDKÚ-DS or KDH. When these coalition efforts were unsuccessful, Direction – Social Democracy proceeded to form the first one-party government in Slovakia since 1993.
=== Candidacy for President ===
On 18 December 2013, Fico officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming 2014 presidential election. He said: "I understand my candidacy as a service to Slovakia." He argued that he did not see his candidacy as an adventure, an escape, or an attempt to culminate his political career. His campaign ran under the motto "Ready for Slovakia". On 9 January 2014, the Slovak Parliament, under Speaker Pavol Paška, officially approved the candidatures of Fico and 14 other candidates. Fico was defeated by the independent candidate Andrej Kiska, whose support from the Slovak right wing led him to victory by a wide margin (approximately 59%–41%) in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.
=== European migrant crisis ===
The 2015 European migrant crisis fundamentally shaped Fico's political platform, driving him to adopt an explicit, hardline anti-immigration stance. He opposed the EU's mandatory quota mechanism designed to redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers across member states from Greece and Italy. Fico described the EU's migration policy as a "ritual suicide" for the bloc and said that Slovakia would "never" accept the quotas. His government filed a lawsuit against the European Union at the European Court of Justice in December 2015, challenging the legality of the quota decision.
Fico described the crisis as a major security threat, stating that his government was "monitoring" the Muslim community after the November 2015 Paris attacks. He said that Slovakia would prefer to accept only Christian refugees and that it would be impossible to integrate Muslim communities into Slovakia's predominantly Catholic society. His strong focus on border protection and his nationalist, anti-immigrant campaign was highly effective, helping his Direction – Social Democracy party secure a victory in the March 2016 general election.
== Third premiership (2016–2018) ==
Following the 2016 parliamentary elections, Fico's party, Direction – Social Democracy, secured a plurality, obtaining 49 seats and 28.3% of the vote, though it did not achieve a majority.
Fico was tasked with forming a viable governing coalition, a process he concluded on 17 March with the announcement of a four-party government. The composition of this coalition was particularly notable due to the inclusion of two groups previously regarded as ideological antagonists: the nationalist Slovak National Party and Most–Híd, a party focused on cooperation with the ethnic Hungarian minority. The resulting four-party government coalition, composed of Direction – Social Democracy, the Slovak National Party, Most–Híd, and Network, was sworn into office on 23 March 2016.
=== EU Council Presidency ===
Fico led Slovakia during its first-ever Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which spanned the second half of 2016 following the Brexit referendum. In his address, Fico said that EU citizens must be at the heart of the Union's future agenda and called for the EU to be less "elitist", framing the bloc's future in terms of "openness, honesty, and simplicity".
The presidency's biggest event was the informal Bratislava Summit of the EU-27, first major meeting of EU leaders without the United Kingdom following the Brexit referendum. Its purpose was to diagnose the EU's challenges together and begin the political process of defining its future.
The Slovak Presidency was generally seen by EU officials as a successful and well-managed one, efficiently delivering on a heavy legislative agenda. Among the tangible achievements under Fico's leadership were the launch of the European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex), the finalization of the EU-Canada trade deal (CETA), and the adoption of the 2017 EU budget.
Based on its opposition to mandatory refugee quotas, the Slovak Presidency's main success in the migration debate was the successful introduction of "effective solidarity" at the Bratislava Summit. This concept was championed by Fico to offer a flexible alternative to relocation, allowing EU member states to contribute to migration management through financial aid, equipment, or border assistance—a diplomatic victory that helped shift the EU focus toward strengthening external border control.
=== Brexit ===
Fico stated that Brexit would be painful for Britain. He said that the European Union must emerge more successful from the negotiations to prevent Brexit from becoming an example for other countries to follow. In an interview, he said, "It will be very difficult for the UK, very difficult". He said the EU's strategy was to "take this opportunity to show the public: 'listen guys, now you will see why it is important to stay in the EU.' This will be the position".
Fico dismissed the UK's confidence in the negotiations as a "bluff". He said that the EU will not allow Britain to "cherry-pick" benefits like the Single Market without accepting the corresponding obligations, including the treatment of EU workers and the free movement of people. In November 2016, Fico stated that the United Kingdom "must suffer" more than the 27 countries that would remain in the bloc.
=== Murder of Ján Kuciak ===
The murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in February 2018 sent shockwaves through Slovakia and immediately ignited a political crisis for the government led by Fico. Kuciak's final, posthumously published article detailed alleged links between high-ranking Slovak state officials and Italian businessmen with ties to organized crime, including the Italian mafia 'Ndrangheta. The article mentioned Mária Trošková, an assistant to Fico, and Viliam Jasaň, Secretary of the National Security Council, as having connections to one of the Italian businessmen. Kuciak alleged that Slovak businessmen, who had links to the Calabrian mafia, were embezzling EU structural funds.
Fico responded by offering €1 million for information leading to the murderers, displaying packs of cash during a press conference with the Interior Minister and Police President. He also warned against the "political abuse of a tragedy". The investigation into the murder later led to the accusation that prominent businessman Marián Kočner—a frequent subject of Kuciak's investigative work and a figure reported to have links to Fico's Direction – Social Democracy party—had ordered the hit. The revelations, combined with the public's view that the government was failing to tackle corruption, triggered the largest anti-government street protests in Slovakia since the 1989 Velvet Revolution, demanding Fico's resignation, eventually forcing him and his entire cabinet to step down in March 2018.
=== George Soros ===
In March 2018, following the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and the resulting mass anti-government protests, Fico publicly accused President Andrej Kiska of colluding with American-Hungarian financier and philanthropist George Soros to destabilize Slovakia and bring down his administration.
Fico cited a private meeting between Kiska and Soros in New York in September 2017 as evidence that the President's subsequent call for government reconstruction or early elections was driven by foreign influence. Soros's Open Society Foundations rejected the claims, stating that the meeting with President Kiska had been focused on humanitarian topics such as the integration of the Roma community and that Soros played no role in the protests or political crisis.
At a press conference on 5 March 2018, Fico said, "I want to pose a simple question to Mr. President. On 20 September 2017 in New York, on 5th Avenue, I am asking, why the Head of State would pay a visit on private soil to a person, who has questionable reputation and this person's name is George Soros".
Fico asked why Kiska did not take a representative of the Foreign Affairs Ministry to the meeting, suggesting this proved the meeting was nefarious. Fico then directly linked the meeting to the political fallout, stating that "What happened after the murder of the journalists suggest that there is an attempt in this country for a total destabilisation," thereby accusing Soros of attempting to overthrow his democratically elected government.
Fico's accusation mirrored that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had accused Soros of interfering in Hungarian politics. Fico said Kiska's call for government changes was not "written in Slovakia," but was guided by Soros, suggesting a coup was being plotted against him.
=== Resignation ===
On 14 March 2018, Fico publicly stated that he was ready to tender his resignation as prime minister in order to avoid a snap election, as well as to "solve the political crisis" involving the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak.
Fico's announcement came after a meeting with President Kiska. In that meeting, Fico laid out several specific conditions that needed to be met by the president for him to resign. Those conditions were, amongst others, that the result of the 2016 Slovak parliamentary election be respected, that the current ruling government coalition must continue, and that Direction – Social Democracy, as the largest party currently in parliament, name the next prime minister. Fico stated that he already had a candidate in mind. Slovak media widely reported that the next prime minister would be Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini. On 15 March, President Kiska formally accepted the resignation of prime minister Fico and his cabinet, and thereby tasked Pellegrini with forming a new government.
Upon tendering his resignation, Fico declared, “I told the president: 'You can relax, I'm not leaving politics, I want to be an active party leader.'" He also stated, “I'm sure that a decision to create a new government is the right step. An early election would not bring any stability.” This maneuver allowed the existing three-party ruling coalition to remain in power.
== Political wilderness (2018–2020) ==
Following his 2018 resignation, Fico entered the political wilderness for several years. Despite stepping down as prime minister, he maintained an active role as leader of his party.
=== Candidacy for judge ===
Fico's failed attempt to become a Constitutional Court judge took place in early 2019, less than a year after his resignation as prime minister. He was among the candidates nominated to replace nine outgoing judges, with reports suggesting he aspired to chair the Court. His candidacy faced significant opposition, particularly concerning his legal experience, as critics questioned whether he met the required 15 years of practice. Fico withdrew his candidacy after his coalition partner, the Most-Hid political party, refused to support him.
== Leader of the Opposition (2020–2023) ==
Direction – Social Democracy remained in power until the 2020 parliamentary elections, where they finished second with 18.29% of the vote and 38 seats, consequently losing the ability to form a government.
Fico moved into the opposition. During his time out of power, Fico actively prepared for a return, often using aggressive and polarizing rhetoric against his opponents. Amidst this political turmoil, he issued the statement, “God – we will drive them out (…) not even an oily spot will remain (after them),” promising retribution against those he considered political enemies.
=== The split of Fico's party ===
The split of the Direction – Social Democracy party in 2020 was a consequence of internal power struggles and a significant electoral defeat under Peter Pellegrini's parliamentary leadership in the 2020 election that sent the party back into opposition. In the 2020 parliamentary election, Pellegrini secured approximately 170,000 more personal preferential votes than Fico, emboldening his ambition to challenge Fico for the party's chair.
Fico resisted calls to resign the chair, condemning the rising disloyalty with the statement: "The nation always likes betrayal, but hates traitors". In June 2020, Pellegrini and several key allies resigned to form a new party, Voice – Social Democracy. This major split decimated Direction – Social Democracy's support, forcing Fico to reorient the party's ideological focus towards a more nationalist, populist, and conservative.
=== COVID-19 pandemic ===
The new government's mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic response led to a crisis, culminating in early 2021 when Slovakia recorded one of the highest hospitalization and death rates per million inhabitants across European countries. In December 2021, Fico was detained by police for organizing an anti-government rally that breached Slovakia's lockdown rules. Fico justified his anti-COVID stance by vocally opposing mandatory vaccinations as a "disgusting fascist idea" and claiming that influenza posed a greater danger than the virus.
In July 2022, the think tank Visegrad Insight described Fico as one of the "most important individual disseminators of politically motivated disinformation and conspiratorial content".
According to media outlet VSquare, Fico capitalised on the political chaos and mismanagement of the government between 2020 and 2023. His uncompromising opposition to the pandemic response proved to be a key element in the resuscitation of his political support, ultimately paving the way for his party's victory in the 2023 parliamentary elections.
=== Criminal charges ===
In April 2022, the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) launched "Operation Súmrak (Twilight)", charging opposition leader and former prime minister Robert Fico.
The charges leveled against Fico and his former Interior Minister, Robert Kaliňák, were severe, alleging they had established and led a criminal group while in power, in addition to abuse of authority and improperly handling confidential tax information. Fico said the charges were a "political vendetta" and an act of "fascism".
As a sitting Member of Parliament, Fico was protected by constitutional immunity from detention, necessitating a formal police request to the National Council to waive this privilege. Despite the government's anti-corruption mandate, the parliament's vote in May 2022 failed to gather the requisite 76 votes (a constitutional majority) to waive Fico's parliamentary immunity. Kaliňák, who did not enjoy MP privileges, had already been taken into custody. On 13 May 2022, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic ruled to release Kaliňák from pre-trial custody.
The charges against both Fico and Kaliňák were nullified in November 2022 by the General Prosecutor's Office under Article 363 of the Criminal Procedure Code, citing various procedural and legal errors in the original investigation.
=== Attacks against the President ===
Fico's rhetoric against Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová became a defining feature of Slovakia's deeply polarized political landscape, particularly as he sought to return to power. The attacks centered on attempts to delegitimize her mandate and pro-Western stance by consistently labeling her as a "US puppet," an "American agent," or an accomplice of the foreign financier George Soros, entirely without evidence. Fico and his Direction – Social Democracy allies aimed to portray the progressive, liberal president as disloyal to national interests and controlled by external forces.
While Fico himself used slightly less vulgar terms in public addresses, his political environment—including high-profile party members—openly embraced and incited crowds to use far more extreme, misogynistic insults, such as the highly offensive phrase "americká kurva" (American whore) at rallies. The constant and aggressive nature of this verbal abuse, which included death threats directed at Čaputová and her family, significantly contributed to the toxic political atmosphere in Slovakia. Ultimately, Čaputová cited the escalating hatred and threats as a primary reason for her 2023 decision not to seek a second term as president.
=== Russian invasion of Ukraine ===
During the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while serving in opposition from 2022 to his return to power in October 2023, Fico adopted an increasingly strong pro-Russian and anti-Ukraine aid position. A central part of his campaign platform was the pledge to immediately halt the provision of further military aid from Slovak army stocks to Ukraine, declaring that Slovakia would not send "a single round of ammunition".
Fico repeated Russian propaganda narratives, that the war started in 2014 when "Ukrainian Nazis and fascists started to murder the Russian citizens in Donbas and Luhansk". He repeatedly criticized the EU and NATO's strategy, arguing that sanctions against Russia were ineffective and only harmed the Slovak economy.
Fico had previously compared the German army to the Nazi-era Wehrmacht when discussing the possibility that German troops would be deployed in Slovakia as part of NATO collective defense. He advocated for a diplomatic resolution, though he acknowledged that Ukraine would likely have to cede some territory to Russia to achieve peace. The issue of support for Ukraine became a highly polarizing topic in the lead-up to the snap parliamentary election.
== Fourth premiership (2023–present) ==
Following the parliamentary election, Fico's Direction – Social Democracy secured 22.95% of the vote and 42 seats, establishing itself as the largest political party.
Fico then formed a governing coalition by reaching an agreement with the Voice – Social Democracy (Hlas), a party founded in 2020, led by Peter Pellegrini and other dissidents of Fico's Smer, and the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), led by Andrej Danko, thereby bringing the SNS back into government after a three-year absence from the National Council of Slovakia. This coalition formalized Fico's return to the premiership, and his Fourth Cabinet was officially sworn into power on 25 October 2023.
=== Greater control of the media ===
In late 2023, the government began its campaign by publicly labeling several leading independent outlets as "hostile media" and threatened to restrict their access to government offices. The government cut the public broadcaster's budget at the start of 2024. In March 2024, the government's announced a plan to replace the public broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS). This was condemned as an attack on press freedom and sparked protests. Noel Curran, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) director general, said in a statement that "This appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to turn the Slovak public service broadcaster into state-controlled media". Critics, including President Zuzana Čaputová, local journalists, the opposition, international media groups, and the European Commission, warned the move gave the government full control of Slovak public television and radio.
In mid-2024 the government passed a law that dissolved RTVS and replaced it with a new entity, Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), controlled by a government-appointed council. The International Press Institute (IPI) said the move allowed the ruling coalition to install its own leadership and exert greater political control over public media content. The Democratic Erosion Consortium said in April 2025 that the replacement of RTVS has drawn international criticism and raised concerns about democratic backsliding and media freedom in the country.
A report by IPI in June 2025, said pressure was applied to most popular private television Markíza, leading to staff changes and fears of editorial self-censorship.
=== Judiciary and criminal code reforms ===
Fico's ruling coalition passed a law that shut down the Special Prosecutor's Office, which had dealt with serious corruption. Investigations by the office had led to many high-profile corruption cases and convictions, many of them involving Fico's MPs, party members, and business partners. The changes also include a reduction in punishment for corruption. The ruling coalition fast-tracked the amendments through parliament, limiting the time for debate and preventing the draft law from being reviewed by experts and others usually involved in the process. The changes were opposed by the Slovak president and opposition, and sparked large protests in Slovakia.
In 2024, Fico's coalition passed an Amendment to the Criminal Code. This amendment reduced sentences and statutes of limitations for numerous criminal acts, among them bribery, tax fraud, fraud, embezzlement and robbery. This reform stopped the prosecution of some corruption cases involving politicians and businessmen, some of whom were close to Fico. Among them were: former minister of finance Ján Počiatek; Oligarch Jozef Výboh, suspected of taking a bribe of 150,000 €, intended for Peter Pellegrini; and acting speaker of the National Council Peter Žiga, suspected of an attempt to bribe a Supreme Court judge with 100,000 €.
=== Assassination attempt ===
On 15 May 2024, around 14:30 (2:30 PM), Fico was injured in a shooting in Handlová, Slovakia, in front of the city's House of Culture after a government meeting, and was subsequently hospitalized at the F.D. Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica. A 71-year-old poet named Juraj Cintula was immediately detained by police as a primary suspect. Fico was reportedly in a "life-threatening" condition following the attack, having suffered wounds to his stomach, arms, and legs, but was stabilized following emergency surgery, and was expected to recover according to deputy prime minister Tomáš Taraba. Cintula stated that he was motivated by what he perceived as Fico's anti-EU stance and by the wish for Slovakia to provide "military assistance" to Ukraine.
On 30 May, Fico was discharged from the hospital and was allowed to continue his recovery at home.
On 5 June 2024, Fico made his first comments on the attack, saying that he forgave the attacker as he is only the "messenger of evil" of the opposition. Fico asked the "anti-government media", especially those linked to George Soros, foreign-funded NGO's and the opposition, not to downplay the reasons for the attack. He described his attacker as a "messenger of the evil and political hatred" created by the "unsuccessful and frustrated" opposition. He added that he expected to return to work later that month or in July.
Senior politicians from Fico's ruling coalition blamed independent media and the opposition for the assassination attempt, alleging that they influenced the shooter. Slovak journalists and opposition leaders feared that the government would use the assassination attempt to crack down on them. The shooting was unanimously condemned by the National Council.
On 21 October 2025, Cintula was convicted and sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment by the Specialised Criminal Court in Banská Bystrica.
=== Doctors' strike ===
At the end of 2024, the government faced a doctors' strike for better conditions. More than 3,300 doctors submitted their resignations. The government passed a bill according to which, when an emergency is declared, doctors can face up to one year in prison or a 1,500€ fine for refusing to work, and up to five years if a patient is harmed as a consequence of their departure. Minister of Health Kamil Šaško considered using emergency measures in districts with the highest resignation rates. Ultimately, the government signed an agreement with the doctors' union with many concessions.
=== Protests ===
Fico traveled to Russia on 22 December 2024 to meet with Vladimir Putin to discuss primarily the transfer of Russian gas to Slovakia, becoming the third Western leader to do so since the war started. The meeting violated the terms of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy.
Due to Fico's continued vocal support for Russia and opposition to Ukraine, tens of thousands of people protested throughout Slovakia. Fico had protested Ukraine closing the brotherhood pipeline and attempted to pressure the Ukrainian government into continuing the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia, by stating he would block energy supply to Ukraine. In response the Polish government announced that they would allow the transit of emergency natural gas instead.
During the January protests, Fico's coalition partners, the SNS, withdrew from his governing coalition, opening the possibility for a vote of no confidence to oust Fico. Fico said the protest organisers and the opposition were colluding with a group of foreigners to bring about a coup in Slovakia. He said the group would occupy government buildings, block roads, organise a nationwide strike, and provoke clashes with police forces as part of their plan. In support of the accusation, he presented to parliament a secret report from Slovakia's security service.
=== Slovak–Ukraine gas dispute (2025) ===
The Slovak–Ukraine gas dispute began on 1 January 2025, when Ukraine did not renew the transit contract with Russia's Gazprom, halting the primary flow of Russian natural gas to Central European nations, including Slovakia. Fico vehemently criticized Ukraine's "unilateral decision," arguing that it caused significant economic harm to Slovakia, which stood to lose an estimated €500 million annually in transit fees.
Fico said he was "fed up with" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he accused of "roaming Europe begging and blackmailing others, asking for money." Fico tied his statement to the Slovak-Ukraine gas dispute, and described Ukraine as an unreliable partner.
In direct response, Fico's government threatened to retaliate by cutting electricity supplies and reducing support for Ukrainian refugees. Ukraine, in turn, accused Fico of prioritizing Moscow's interests and offered to help secure alternative, non-Russian energy supplies for Slovakia. However, by 1 February, Slovakia's state gas supplier began receiving Russian gas via a new southern route—the TurkStream pipeline through Turkey and Hungary—partially mitigating the immediate supply crisis, though at higher prices and with reduced volumes, forcing Slovakia to seek further diversification.
=== Open letter from psychiatrists ===
In January 2025, over 150 Slovak psychiatrists and psychologists signed an open letter to Fico, expressing profound concern about the country's political direction and the state of society. The letter, penned by professors Jozef Hašto and Anton Heretik, accused Fico of being authoritarian, manipulating facts, and "aggressive and emotionally explosive" public speeches, which they suggested worsened after the May 2024 assassination attempt.
The professionals wrote that Fico was fostering a negative atmosphere and polarising the public. Fico said the psychiatrists had "long been public opponents of [his] government" and described the appeal as "a disgraceful abuse of your titles for political purposes".
=== Croatian property ===
In March 2025, Croatian media alleged Fico had purchased land in the coastal village of Ražanj and was planning to build a summer house there. Fico dismissed the allegation and said he would readily admit the claim if it were true since "hundreds of Slovak politicians, whether at the national, regional, or local level, own property there".
In July, The Slovak Spectator wrote that a luxury two-story villa in Croatia, with a pool, sea view and reportedly valued over one million euros, was linked to Fico. The property is not registered under Fico's name in the Croatian land registry. The property was initially registered to two young Slovak businessmen, Matej Gocník and Matúš Moravčík, both with tangential ties to Fico's political circle. Opposition leader and former Slovak prime minister Igor Matovič alleged that these individuals were "front men" for Fico and that Fico stayed there in 2024. In March, Slovak media had reported that Fico had telephoned the "real owner" to apologise for the "media circus" and to arrange a rental of the villa for his summer holiday. Local authorities reportedly confirmed that the property was not registered for legal rental.
=== Election meddling accusation ===
In July 2025, Fico accused the United Kingdom of "deliberate, intentional" interference in the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election. Fico alleged that the UK's Foreign Office, through a London-based media agency, secretly funded a campaign to pay influencers and activists. He claimed the campaign aimed to sway young voters in favour of the liberal opposition party, Progressive Slovakia (PS), and undermine his own party, Direction – Social Democracy.
The allegations, stemming from an investigative report, resulted in the Slovak Foreign Ministry summoning the British Ambassador for an explanation. The UK government firmly rejected the accusation, asserting its activity was non-partisan and only intended to encourage democratic participation among young people.
=== Constitutional amendments ===
In September 2025, the Slovak government successfully passed a constitutional amendment that cemented a number of deeply conservative social policies. This amendment strictly recognized only male and female as genders, limited adoption exclusively to married heterosexual couples, and introduced a nationwide ban on surrogacy. Furthermore, it mandated that school curricula must comply with the constitutional ethics, reinforcing the existing 2014 amendment defining marriage solely between a man and a woman. Crucially, the amendment declared that Slovak laws concerning cultural and ethical issues would override conflicting European Union laws. The governing party, Direction – Social Democracy, celebrated the measure as "a dam against progressivism" necessary to preserve the nation's "traditions and spiritual heritage".
Prior to the vote, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission issued a warning, expressing concern that the clauses asserting the primacy of Slovak law on "cultural and ethical issues" must not be used to violate the country's international obligations under EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights, and also recommended removing the strict binary gender wording to prevent future discrimination.
Following the reform's passage, the European Commission officially launched an infringement proceeding against Slovakia in November 2025 over the constitutional amendments' conflict with EU law. Fico stated, "We look forward to this conflict".
=== Expulsion from European Socialists ===
The Party of European Socialists (PES) officially expelled Fico's party, Direction – Social Democracy, at its congress in October 2025 in Amsterdam. The decision, which was unanimous, followed the party's suspension in October 2023 for forming a government coalition with the far-right Slovak National Party and for a "clear divergence from the values of the PES family". PES did not give specific reasons for the expulsion but said the party had taken positions that contradict "severely and deeply the values and principles our family stands for".
Fico responded to the expulsion with defiance, taking to social media to state he was "proud of this exclusion" if it was due to his party's defense of the constitutional definition of marriage, which in Slovakia enshrines the union as exclusively between a man and a woman, or his participation in the celebration of victory over fascism in Russia and China. He said the PES' action demonstrated intolerance toward his government's social conservatism, and he also stated that "The Party of European Socialists should be renamed the Party of European Homosexuals and Warmongers".
=== Opposition to sanctions on Russia ===
Fico opposes sanctions on Russia and has described the EU's policy of ending Russian energy imports as "imbecilic". Slovakia depends heavily on the import of Russian energy and has asked for an exemption from the EU's Russian import policy and requested that Slovakia keep its current contract with Russian gas company Gazprom until it expires in 2034. He said he would not support sanctions against Russia which would hurt Slovakia. The adoption of the 18th package of sanctions was delayed six times until Fico withdrew his opposition in July 2025, after securing written assurances and guarantees from the European Commission regarding energy prices and supply security.
In October 2025, Fico invoked his veto power again to block the 19th package of sanctions, which targets Russian LNG, oil infrastructure, and frozen assets—demanding that EU leaders first provide concrete instructions to address the crisis in the automotive industry and high energy costs. Fico's strategy of linking support for sanctions to domestic economic concerns has positioned Slovakia, alongside Hungary, as an obstacle to European unity on policy towards Russia.
In a speech delivered in the National Council of Slovakia, Fico dismissed the objective to "bring Russia to its knees," and stated that the world knows "Russians only get on their knees to tie their shoelaces".
In November 2025, Fico has stated that Slovakia will not support the European Union's plan to use frozen Russian assets to finance military costs in Ukraine. Fico called the EU initiative controversial, warning that seizing the assets for military aid would only prolong the war, and argued that the focus should be on a peace plan. He emphasized that Slovakia would not participate in any legal or financial schemes directed at using the frozen funds for Ukrainian military spending and stated, "This piece of Russian cheese smells extremely tempting to the European raven".
In February 2026, Slovakia joined Hungary in blocking the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Russia, preventing its adoption ahead of the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.. The opposition is primarily tied to a dispute over the Druzhba oil pipeline, which has seen halted deliveries since late January. Ukraine said the halt was due to Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Slovakia said Ukraine was keeping the pipeline closed to pressure Slovakia and Hungary to accept Ukraine's admission to the EU. Bratislava and Budapest have accused Kyiv of intentionally delaying repairs to the pipeline, effectively using their veto as leverage to restore oil transit.
Fico said the sanctions against Russia were "self-destructive" for the Slovak economy and would not stop the conflict. He said that the EU's focus is misplaced, stating, "Just as we devised 20 sanctions packages, we should have devised 20 peace initiatives".
=== Chalk November Wave ===
The "Chalk November Wave (Kriedová novembrová vlna)", also called the "Chalk Revolution (Kriedová revolúcia)", was a grassroots protest movement that swept across Slovakia in November 2025. It began after a 19-year-old student, nicknamed "Muro", was taken from his classroom by police for questioning after he used chalk to write anti-government slogans outside his school in Poprad on 7 November 2025. The incident occurred shortly before a scheduled official visit by Fico to the school. The student was released without charge in the same day.
A few days later, during a talk at another high school in Poprad, Fico said the European Union plans to spend €140 billion "to prolong the war" in Ukraine, resulting in a backlash from the students. In response, Fico said "If you're such heroes, go and fight in Ukraine".
In a display of solidarity with students, thousands of chalk signs and messages, ranging from "Enough of Fico" to pro-European and pro-Ukraine symbols, appeared on sidewalks, squares, and in front of government buildings in dozens of cities across Slovakia.
The protests reached their peak on November 17, 2025, when tens of thousands of people gathered in Bratislava and other cities to mark the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and to demand Fico's resignation. The rallies were organised by opposition parties and civic group. "Muro" and opposition leaders spoke at the rally in Bratislava. However, due to deteriorating weather conditions, the "Chalk November Wave" concluded shortly thereafter, as the outdoor elements, specifically rain and snow, made continued chalk-based demonstrations impractical.
=== Epstein files ===
In late 2025 and early 2026, the release of over three million pages of documents related to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, known as the "Epstein files" by the U.S. Department of Justice, sparked political controversy in Slovakia. The documents revealed that Miroslav Lajčák, a high-profile Slovak diplomat and advisor to Fico for foreign affairs and national security, had extensive email communication with Epstein between 2017 and 2019. During the period of correspondence, Lajčák simultaneously served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia in Fico's Third Cabinet and President of the United Nations General Assembly.
In the correspondence released in November 2025, Epstein referred to Lajčák as "Miro" and discussed his potential advancement to top roles in the UN or NATO. In a March 15, 2018, email to Steve Bannon, Epstein said Lajčák was the person who would lead a "European project" and predicted the fall of the Slovak government "as planned", an event that occurred days later following the murder of Ján Kuciak. Lajčák said he only had social contact with Epstein as part as part his diplomatic duties.
Opposition parties and Fico's coalition partner, the Slovak National Party called on Fico to dismiss Lajčák. Fico characterized Lajčák as an "excellent diplomat" and stated he would not "execute" a colleague based on social meetings without evidence of moral or legal failure.
A photograph released in December 2025, showed Lajčák and Epstein together at the Slovak diplomatic residence in Vienna.
In January 2026, the new records allegedly show Lajčák asking Jeffrey Epstein to introduce him to "young girls" and boasting that Epstein had not yet seen him "in action". In these exchanges, Lajčák reportedly requested an invitation to participate in Epstein’s private "games".
According to the publicized records, Lajčák suggested a meeting between Fico and American far-right strategist Steve Bannon. Epstein wanted to establish a network of far-right political groups with Bannon in Europe and Lajčák said Fico could "play Steve’s game".
On 31 January 2026, following a joint statement from opposition politicians calling for his departure and mounting pressure from the media, Lajčák submitted his resignation. Fico accepted the resignation, marking the end of Lajčák's tenure as a key advisor. Fico described Lajčák as a victim of media pressure and said the country had lost a source of experience in diplomacy and foreign policy.
In February 2026, Fico said that he had never met Steve Bannon.
=== Slovak–Ukraine oil dispute ===
In February 2026, Fico faced a major foreign policy crisis during the 2026 Slovak–Ukraine oil dispute, sparked by the cessation of Russian crude oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline. Kyiv said technical damage from Russian drone strikes was the cause. Fico, speaking several weeks after the initial disruption, dismissed these claims as a "purely political decision" and a "hostile act" intended to "blackmail" Slovakia. Citing Slovak intelligence sources, he said that the pipeline infrastructure was already functional and that Ukraine was deliberately stalling the restart to pressure Hungary to drop its opposition to Ukraine joining the EU. He warned of severe retaliatory measures if flows were not restored.
Under his direction, the Slovak government declared a state of emergency, released strategic oil reserves, and suspended diesel fuel exports to Ukraine.
On February 23, 2026, when Fico terminated emergency electricity supplies to the Ukrainian power grid. He said that Slovakia would reconsider its position on Ukraine's EU membership if "Ukraine continues to harm Slovakia's interests in the supply of strategic raw materials".
== Ideological views ==
Fico's ideological views are generally described as populist, combining elements of left-wing nationalism and social conservatism within his Direction – Social Democracy party. While his party identifies as social-democratic, Fico has been noted for his use of anti-establishment rhetoric, often criticizing elites, the media, and non-governmental organizations.
Fico has stated that Western liberal democracy has "completely collapsed" and is "terribly ineffective". He praised the governance models of one-party states China and Vietnam for their economic effectiveness and stability which he contrasted with Slovakia's system under which "Every four years, a new government scraps everything and starts over".
Economically, his party champions a leftist platform, advocating for strong social welfare spending and state intervention to support the working class, often by reversing market-oriented and austerity reforms implemented by previous governments.
Socially, Fico adheres to deeply conservative positions, opposing LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex adoption while promoting policies that emphasize national pride and traditional Christian values.
In foreign policy, he pursues the concept of the "politics of the four corners of the world," which advocates for an autonomous, sovereign approach that balances Slovakia's EU/NATO membership with intensified relations with non-EU partners, including the BRICS bloc. In line with this doctrine he holds pro-Russian views, valuing a friendly relationship with Russia and often sympathising with Russia's geopolitical interests, marking a significant departure from Slovakia's long-standing Western ties.
Fico initially defined Direction – Social Democracy as the "third way" party, which recognised the role of the market and business as well as the role of government and a strong state. His ideology has undergone transformations over his long career, consistently prioritizing his domestic political goals and emphasizing Slovak national interests. Fico is critical of the Western model of the left, which he calls "the Brussels left".
Fico selectively praises a diverse range of historical Slovak figures to build a broad political narrative rooted in national identity and socialist history. He hailed Ľudovít Štúr, a key figure in the Slovak national revival, stressing that Štúr was guided by the motto that "the most beautiful words are deeds". He expressed respect for Gustáv Husák, the last Communist president of Czechoslovakia, stating Husák "prevented repressions in the normalisation 70s" and deserves "respect and humility". He also invokes Alexander Dubček of the Prague Spring, stating that his own political party is dedicated to providing a "human face to modern society", following Dubček's vision of a "socialism with a human face". Fico also honors Milan Rastislav Štefánik, a co-founder of Czechoslovakia, by calling him a "lasting symbol of inspiration and national pride". He honored Vladimír Clementis, a Communist diplomat and victim of Stalinist purges, by stating his praise and later unveiling a sculpture of him at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007. Fico has also embraced the legacy of the influential writer and intellectual Vladimír Mináč, attending the unveiling of his bust in 2022 and emphasizing that he represents qualities absent in modern Slovakia.
Fico has actively courted and praised Catholic figures like Cardinal Ján Chryzostom Korec, who, in turn, expressed support for him, saying Fico "has all the qualities of a good president" during his 2014 presidential campaign.
Fico has publicly expressed a positive affinity for several international figures, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whom he has called a "friend". He also considers Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán a close ally and a leader who does not fear to openly defend the interests of his people. He holds a positive view of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Fico is a member of the Slovak Matica and supports Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters.
In 2025, Fico addressed the Conservative Political Action Conferences, which aim to gather conservatives, in the United States in February and in Hungary in May.
== Domestic policy ==
=== Immigration and Islam ===
Fico rejected European Commission's plan to distribute refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa among EU member states, saying: "As long as I am prime minister, mandatory quotas will not be implemented on Slovak territory." He stated that "thousands of terrorists and Islamic State fighters are entering Europe with migrants, and added: "We monitor every single Muslim in Slovakia."
In May 2016, Fico stated that Slovakia would not accept "one single Muslim" migrant into the country, weeks before the country was scheduled to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU. He further stated: "When I say something now, maybe it will seem strange, but I'm sorry, Islam has no place in Slovakia. I think it is the duty of politicians to talk about these things very clearly and openly. I do not wish there were tens of thousands of Muslims".
On 30 November 2016, the Slovak Parliament, under the government led by Fico, passed a bill significantly increasing the minimum threshold for a religious movement or organization to achieve state recognition. The required number of verified practicing members was raised from 20,000 to 50,000. This legislation has been widely viewed as an explicit measure to prevent Islam from gaining state-recognized status in Slovakia. Islam is not an official religion in Slovakia and there are no officially recognized mosques.
Fico strongly opposed the EU's Asylum and Migration Pact finalized in 2024, particularly the solidarity mechanism. He stated that Slovakia will not implement the rule that requires member states to either accept a share of asylum seekers or pay a financial contribution of €20,000 per person if they refuse, calling this a "dictate" rather than genuine solidarity and saying that out of "100% of illegal migrants who arrive in Europe, 80% stay there, and only 20% we manage to get back".
=== LGBTQ+ ===
Fico's gender policy is highly conservative and centered on restricting the rights and recognition of LGBTQ+ individuals under the banner of upholding traditional values and national identity against "gender ideology". Fico reportedly stated he did not want people "who will claim to be women and have a 20cm dick between their legs."
In 2023, Fico referred to adoption by same-sex couples as a "perversion", stated that he would never support same-sex marriage. He said that "gender ideology in schools is unacceptable".
This political stance was formally enacted as law by a September 2025 constitutional amendment, passed by his government, which recognizes only male and female as genders, severely limits adoption to married heterosexual couples, and asserts the primacy of Slovak law over EU law on such "cultural-ethical issues".
=== Privatizations ===
Fico's political career has been characterized by a resolute opposition to the privatization of key state assets and public services, a stance that has significantly influenced his policies on the economy and healthcare. Fico has consistently positioned himself against the sale of strategic state enterprises, often labeling the privatizations carried out by previous center-right governments as corrupt and a form of "theft".
One of his very first and most decisive actions upon coming to power in 2006 was the cancellation of the Bratislava Airport sale to the TwoOne consortium, which was led by Vienna Airport and included the Czech-Slovak group Penta Investments. Fico's government officially scrapped the deal, stating that the airport was a strategic company that the state must retain control of it for economic and security reasons.
This anti-privatization drive also extended into the healthcare system and his pursuit of a single state-run health insurance company. A central policy of his first government was to ban private health insurance companies from distributing profits (dividends) to their shareholders, stating that public funds intended for treatment should not be privatized. This policy led to an international arbitration case, which the Slovak Republic ultimately lost, resulting in the International Court of Arbitration awarding damages of €22 million to Achmea, the Dutch owner of the health insurance company Union. The ban on distributing profits was later ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. Fico's subsequent governments pushed for the expropriation or buyout of the remaining private health insurers, in order to establish a single state insurer to "stop the inflow of funds to private provider," a goal he has yet to fully achieve.
In 2008, Fico threatened the foreign owners of energy monopolies such as SPP (the French Gaz de France and the German E.ON) with the nationalization and seizure of their ownership shares if they "make policies that go against state policy, against the interests of this state and its people". This aggressive stance was taken during a heated dispute over domestic retail gas prices, underscoring his willingness to assert direct state influence over key utilities.
Fico's anti-privatization stance extended to the strategic Gabčíkovo Dam, whose lucrative hydroelectric plant operation had been leased to the privatized utility, majority-owned by Italy's Enel. Stating the 2006 lease was illegal and against national interest, Fico's government launched a lengthy legal and political campaign. This culminated in the state successfully taking back full operational control of the power plant in 2015, which Fico presented as reclaiming a critical national asset from foreign private ownership.
=== Social policy ===
Fico's domestic social policy is fundamentally built on social populism, prioritizing tangible benefits for key electoral demographics, specifically older and lower-income citizens. A cornerstone of this policy is the "thirteenth pension," an annual payment designed to provide crucial financial support to pensioners, positioning himself as a guardian of the elderly's financial security.
His governments have consistently aimed to reverse austerity measures imposed by center-right cabinets, increasing other social benefits and intervening to limit the rise in costs for essential services like utilities and prescription medications. Furthermore, his administration introduced free rail transport for large demographic groups, including students up to age 26 and pensioners, a measure intended to lower living costs and solidify a perceived social safety net.
Fico has made the continual and significant increase of the national minimum wage, often boasting about its multi-fold rise since his first government and arguing that it is essential to ensure that "it is not possible for someone who works to live under the poverty limit". Fico's government implemented a significant increase in night shift bonuses, as well as bonuses for weekend and public holiday work, to directly improve the wages of lower-income workers.
Fico also advocated for a four-day working week to be introduced, initially as an experiment where business conditions allow for agreement between employers and unions. He stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2024 that Slovakia could soon be among the countries adopting this measure. The four-day working week has not been implemented during his time in office.
He has promised a "return to the values of a social state," often criticizing the prior "right-wing reforms" by saying they were "for the rich" and vowing to continue reforms but "not on the backs of the people". This policy boosted the living standards of his base through subsidies and generous state spending. Critics say it is fiscally irresponsible, potentially jeopardizing the long-term sustainability of public finances in favor of short-term political gains.
=== Wars ===
Fico's stance on foreign wars has been characterized by a notable shift over his multiple tenures as Slovakia's prime minister.
During his first government, which began in 2006, Fico fulfilled a campaign promise by withdrawing Slovak troops from the Iraq War in early 2007, describing the US-led invasion as "unbelievably unjust and wrong". Fico said that the security situation there was "catastrophic", that "to speak about any democracy in Iraq is a fantasy," and that the entry of foreign armies had only caused immense tension. He said the Iraq commitment was a reckless "adventure", contrasting it with the NATO mission in Afghanistan, which he said "conforms to international law" and which he subsequently increased.
His governments maintained Slovakia's participation in the NATO-led War in Afghanistan for many years. Slovak soldiers, including Special Operations Forces, served in Afghanistan in non-combat roles such as training, advisory, and base security throughout Fico's first three terms (2006–2010, 2012–2016 and 2016–2018).
In 2023, Fico's foreign policy turned toward non-involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Fico said that "some European leaders are tired of 80 years of peace" and want to escalate tensions with Russia. He said that "I will never be a wartime prime minister" and criticized the European Union, stating, "If the EU spent as much energy on peace as it does on supporting the war in Ukraine, the war could have been over long ago". After taking office in 2023, his government fulfilled an election promise by terminating all military aid to Kyiv while continuing to send humanitarian aid. His government has since refused to participate in any EU scheme to finance military aid to Ukraine, stating that the conflict cannot be solved on the battlefield.
In January 2026, Fico criticized U.S. intervention in Venezuela, characterizing it as a violation of international law and reflecting the broader decline of the post-World War II global order. He emphasized his strong opposition, stating that he "resolutely rejects" such violations of international norms. Fico drew parallels to his earlier positions on the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
== Foreign policy ==
== Relationship with the media ==
During his press conferences, Robert Fico often verbally attacks, belittles, and taunts the present journalists, often accusing them of bias and attacking his government. On several occasions he has openly and on record used profanities against specific journalists, such as "idiots", "pricks", "prostitutes", "snakes", and "hyenas". He has also been recorded ridiculing journalists' physical appearance.
=== Verbal attacks ===
In 2009, Fico repeatedly described the Slovak press as a "new opposition force" that was biased and was harming national and state interests. Fico also accused the press of failing to "stand behind the common people."
In July 2012, Fico declared "Eternal Peace" between him and the Slovak press. He also stated his desire to change his attitude towards the media, saying "I think it is enough" and that he does not plan any further lawsuits against media outlets except in extraordinary situations. Fico further said: "You have to spend an incredible amount of energy on it [lawsuits], it means several years of conflict, one conflict takes usually five or six years [to resolve]." He added that lawsuits involve "legal fees, paying a lawyer, everything around that".
In November 2016, Fico termed journalists questioning him about allegations of public procurement rules during Slovakia's EU presidency as "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes". He also stated the accusations were a targeted attack to smear the country's presidency of the EU.
In November 2021, Fico described journalists as "Soros' corrupt gang of swines for whom water is already boiling." He says that the media is "obsessed" with him and his party; they want to "destroy" it and are "waging a jihad against it."
In 2022, Fico repeatedly stated that journalists were an "organized criminal group with the aim of breaking Slovak statehood" and called on the Slovak Police Force to investigate them.
=== Cartoon ===
In July 2009, Fico faced genuine cervical spine problems (neck and back pain). This inspired a cartoon by Martin Šútovec (Shooty) in the daily Sme, which controversially depicted Fico's X-ray showing "no spine" and his pain as merely "phantom". Fico strongly objected, filing a lawsuit for €33,000, arguing the cartoon made fun of his serious health condition.
The court ruled against Fico in 2010, upholding the cartoon as protected political satire and exaggeration. After losing at the lower courts and having the case returned by the Supreme Court on a technicality, Fico ultimately withdrew the lawsuit in March 2013, ending the protracted legal battle.
=== Book cover ===
In August 2024, Fico initiated a high-profile lawsuit against the editor-in-chief of the news website Aktuality.sk, Peter Bárdy, and the publisher Ringier Slovak Media, over the unauthorized use of his photograph chosen for the cover of Bárdy's 2023 book, Fico – Obsessed with Power (Fico – Posadnutý mocou).
Fico objected not to the book's critical content, but strictly to the image, with his lawyers claiming that Fico "has the right to decide how his photograph is used" and demanding an apology and €100,000 in damages from each party. The lawsuit argued that the image used on the cover "did not reflect his personal and professional dignity".
Condemning the lawsuit, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and its Media Freedom Rapid Response partners released a statement characterizing the action as a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), designed to intimidate journalists and halt investigative reporting.
=== Press Freedom Predator ===
In October 2025, Fico was included on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2025 list of Press Freedom Predators under the "Social" category. The RSF placed Slovakia 38th out of 180 countries in its 2025 press freedom rankings. According to RSF, "social" predators "smear media and promote mistrust of journalists". In its assessment, the RSF cited various terms that Fico had used to describe journalists. It also mentioned political control of public broadcasting. The full list of those named as 2025 Press Freedom Predators in the "social" category included Elon Musk, Honest reporting, Margarita Simonyan, OpIndia and Javier Milei.
=== Trump comments ===
In January 2026, a report by Politico claimed Fico had privately expressed concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's mental health. The original report, citing anonymous European diplomats, alleged that Fico described Trump as "dangerous" and "out of his mind" following their January 17 meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Fico said he "strongly reject the lies of the Politico portal".
Fico dismissed the claims as "boundless media lies" and "fabrications," stating that he did not make the remarks. The White House supported Fico’s position, with a spokesperson labeling the story "total fake news" and characterizing the meeting in Florida as positive and productive.
In a statement addressing the controversy, Fico characterized Politico as a "sad look at the liberal and progressive political and media world”.
== Personal life ==
=== Relationships ===
Fico has two siblings, younger sister Lucia and older brother Ladislav.
Fico is married to Svetlana Ficová (née Svobodová), a lawyer and associate professor from Žilina. They were classmates while they both studied law at the Comenius University in Bratislava, and they married in 1988. They have one son together, Michal (b. 1994), who studied at the University of Economics in Bratislava. Despite his marriage, Fico hasn't lived with his wife since 2019, and doesn't attend any official events with her. At least since 2020, Fico has practiced an open relationship with Katarína Szalayová; they have been seen together in public on many occasions.
Fico became a grandfather for the first time in 2022, as his son Michal Fico and his wife welcomed a baby girl Pavlína.
=== Wealth ===
Fico's property situation has drawn significant public and media scrutiny over the years. At the beginning of his political career, Fico and his family lived in Bratislava's Dlhé diely, in an ordinary apartment in a panel house. In 2008, Fico moved into a residential Apartment complex Čmelovec located in Bratislava's Old Town, near Bratislava Castle, which belongs to the Diplomatic Services Bureau.
Since 2012, he has been known for renting luxury properties rather than owning them. Notably, he lived in a large apartment within the Bonaparte complex, located in Bratislava's Old Town, which was a 377-square-meter luxurious residence. He rented this apartment starting in 2012 from businessman Ladislav Bašternák, who was later convicted of tax fraud. This arrangement, which cost €2,850 monthly, became a source of criticism and was cited in political controversies.
After leaving the Bonaparte complex in 2019, Fico stayed in various temporary residences. In January 2021, Fico moved into a luxury apartment in the Sokolská Residence, which he rented from his party colleague Dušan Muňko in a highly desirable and lucrative part of Bratislava. This residence is located in the Old Town district, specifically in the prestigious diplomatic quarter under the Slavín memorial, which is known for its high-end residential character. In 2023, Fico purchased a 135-square-meter apartment in the residence for €509,000, securing it at a price significantly below the expert-estimated market value of €750,000 to €1 million.
In 2002, Fico purchased an 820-square-meter vineyard plot in Bratislava's New Town for a notably low price of approximately €1,850 (less than 37,000 SKK). In 2007, opposition leader Mikuláš Dzurinda accused Fico of a speculative purchase, claiming the land's subsequent reclassification for construction had inflated its value to approximately €180,000 (SKK 6 million). Fico vehemently denied the claims of speculation, stating, "I'm not an idiot to ruin my reputation for 800 square meters of vineyard", and subsequently retaliated against Dzurinda by labeling him a "liar" and filing a criminal charge, stating that he possessed official documents proving the property was registered strictly as a vineyard.
His income largely stems from his political office. As the prime minister of Slovakia, his salary is substantial. Reports from 2025 indicate his annual salary is approximately €144,000 (or roughly 8 times the national average). In June 2024, a law was passed that grants a lifetime salary to former prime ministers who have served more than two full electoral cycles. As the longest-serving prime minister, Fico is currently the only politician who qualifies for this retirement benefit.
=== Health ===
In July 2009, Fico faced genuine cervical spine problems (neck and back pain) severe enough to disrupt his official schedule.
In February 2014, Fico seriously injured his left foot during a football match in Košice, which was part of his campaign before the presidential election. His injury required emergency surgery at the Kramáre Hospital in Bratislava. In the hospital, he was diagnosed with a torn Achilles tendon.
Fico experienced a recurrence of his serious spinal health issues in April 2014, five years after his first reported incident. These health problems, involving his neck and back, were significant enough to force him to cancel a portion of his official public schedule.
In April 2016, Fico underwent coronary triple bypass surgery in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Bratislava.
In December 2019, Fico left the annual Direction – Social Democracy party congress to seek medical treatment due to high blood pressure.
In summer 2021, while on vacation in Greece, Fico passed out during breakfast. A German cardiologist from the next table helped him, thinking he had a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital, where doctors found out that it was COVID-19, which, combined with fever and low blood pressure, had caused him to pass out. Over the next few days in Crete, Fico stayed in quarantine.
On 15 May 2024, Fico was shot several times in an assassination attempt and was subsequently hospitalized at the F.D. Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica. Fico was reportedly in a "life-threatening" condition after the attack, having suffered wounds to his stomach, arms, and legs, but was stabilized following emergency surgery.
Fico's recovery from the assassination attempt continued throughout late 2024 and into 2025, marked by ongoing health complications. He frequently canceled or cut short public engagements, often attributing this to vague health issues, though he hinted that the problems were linked to digestion as a result of the shooting. These persistent issues led to more significant disruptions, such as the cancellation of a summit trip in October 2025, which he officially excused due to "worsened health problems still related to last year's attack".
=== Religion ===
Fico has rarely discussed his religious life in public. In his application to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1984, Fico stated that he was "strictly atheistic", as was required to be accepted. According to the testimonial from college added to the application, he held a "scientific Marxist-Leninist worldview" and "no problems concerning religion."
In a promotional video during presidential election campaign in 2014, Fico said he grew up in a Catholic family and that he considers himself a Catholic. He discussed his baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation and how the Catholic faith had impacted his childhood. He stated: "Perhaps if I did my profile in relation to the Catholic Church, I would end up better off than any MP of the KDH." He also described growing up with his grandfather, a man who "very strictly respected the rules of standard Christian life", stating that it profoundly impacted him. Patrik Dubovský, a historian and former researcher of the National Memory Institute, considers it to be an attempt to manipulate public opinion because "confirmation was in direct conflict with Communist Party membership, whose political programme was based on atheism." During the Communist period, religiously active people were severely persecuted, especially after the repression of Charter 77.
During a televised debate, Fico refused to answer a television presenter's question about whether he is a Christian or an atheist, and said that he considered it a private matter. Regarding the sacraments, Fico said that he was baptised as an infant and the Holy Communion with Confirmation followed afterwards, as he said it was with every child who grew up in his home village.
In April 2025, Fico released a statement on social media following the death of Pope Francis, where he called himself "a man of deep faith".
=== Language ===
Apart from his native Slovak language, Fico is fluent in English and Russian.
=== Alleged extramarital affairs ===
In August 2010, Fico was photographed at night in downtown Bratislava together with a woman, who was later revealed to be 25-year-old Jana Halászová, a secretary at the Direction – Social Democracy party headquarters. It was later revealed that Halászová had been given extensive privileges, including her own parking space in the Parliament car park, without being a member. In addition, both her sister and step-mother had recently been given jobs within various ministries. In August 2013, Fico was photographed while embracing and kissing his now-secretary Halászová, after taking her for a private dinner at a chateau in Čereňany, 160 kilometres from Bratislava. The photos created another round of speculation about the true nature of their relationship, as well as whether or not he had used public funds to pay for the dinner.
== Awards and honors ==
=== Foreign ===
Czech Republic:
Order of the White Lion (2014)
Fico received the Order of the White Lion for his contribution to the Czech-Slovak relations by Czech President Miloš Zeman. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_NBA_Finals | 1987 NBA Finals | The 1987 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1986–87 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics in six games. The key moment of the series was Magic Johnson's Junior sky hook in Game 4. This was the tenth time that the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals (more than any other Finals matchup). It would be Larry Bird's last Finals appearance, as well as the Celtics' last Finals appearance until the two teams met in 2008.
This was the first NBA Championship Series conducted entirely in June. The last time there were no NBA Championship Series games in May was in the 1970–1971 season, when the finals (a four-game sweep that year) ended on April 30. It is also the first NBA Finals series to be conducted on a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday rotation, which was in use until 1990 and revived since the 2004 NBA Finals; in between the NBA Finals were conducted on a Sunday-Wednesday-Friday rotation.
== Background ==
=== Boston Celtics ===
Thanks to the 1984 trade of Gerald Henderson and the subsequent fall of the Seattle SuperSonics, at the end of 1985–86 the Celtics were not only the best team in the NBA but also owned the second pick in the 1986 NBA draft. They chose Len Bias with the pick and had high hopes that the presence of the young Maryland Terrapins star would ensure that the franchise would remain a powerhouse after Bird, McHale, and Parish retired. Unfortunately, Bias died 48 hours after being drafted, after using cocaine at a party and overdosing.
The Celtics finished the regular season with a 59–23 record, best in the Eastern Conference. Despite retaining the core of the team that won the championship a year earlier, Boston endured numerous injuries to its roster. Their bench, an asset of the previous year's team, was decimated by injuries to Scott Wedman and Bill Walton. With limited options, head coach K. C. Jones was forced to give his starting five of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge extended minutes, but the lengthy playing time took its toll on the players' health, and by the start of the playoffs, the Celtics were a roster full of walking wounded.
After sweeping the Chicago Bulls in the first round, the Celtics were pushed to a Game 7 in the next two rounds by the Milwaukee Bucks and the Detroit Pistons, only to advance each time. Still, the Celtics' health became a question mark as they entered the Finals.
=== Los Angeles Lakers ===
The Lakers finished the regular season with a league-best 65–17 record. Head coach Pat Riley made a strategical move, shifting the offensive focus to Magic Johnson. The Lakers acquired center Mychal Thompson via trade midway through the season. Both moves helped alleviate the load off of the aging Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who turned 40 during the playoffs. A.C. Green supplanted Kurt Rambis in the starting lineup.
During the Lakers' path to the Finals they swept the Denver Nuggets in the first round, defeated the Golden State Warriors in five games during the second round, and swept the Seattle SuperSonics in the conference finals.
This 1987 Lakers team is widely considered both Magic Johnson's best team, and one of the greatest teams in NBA history. There are many reasons for this, besides Magic Johnson being league MVP that year instead of Larry Bird: Kareem was still in late prime condition, the Lakers had many scoring options, they had a strong defense which included defensive player of the year Michael Cooper, and Mychal Thompson's elite post defense meant they had another body to throw at the likes of McHale and Parish of the Celtics.
=== Road to the Finals ===
=== Regular season series ===
The Los Angeles Lakers won both games in the regular season series:
== Series summary ==
=== Game 1 ===
The Lakers were coming off a four-game sweep of the Seattle SuperSonics, while the Celtics were coming off a grueling seven-game win over the Detroit Pistons. Magic Johnson led a 126–113 victory with 29 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and no turnovers. James Worthy, on the receiving end of many of Johnson's passes, had 33 points and nine rebounds. The Lakers ran 35 fast breaks in the first two quarters and led by 15 at intermission.
=== Game 2 ===
Prior to the game, Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons and Larry Bird held a joint press conference to quell the controversy of Dennis Rodman and Thomas racial comments towards Bird after losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. After that game, Thomas told reporters that he agreed with teammate Dennis Rodman’s statement that Bird would be just another guy if he were black. Thomas said he meant the comment to be a joke. Thomas later stated how Bird accepting his apology essentially saved his career.
The Celtics plan for Game 2 was to concentrate on stopping Magic Johnson. Danny Ainge, at 6'5", could not deal with the 6'9" Magic. In this game, Michael Cooper emerged as a great 3 point shooter. He hit six 3 pointers, a playoff record. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar added 23 points on 10 of 14 shots, while Magic posted 20 assists and 22 points. It all added up to a 141–122 rout, Boston's sixth straight road loss in the playoffs.
=== Game 3 ===
The Celtics recovered from their two knockout blows in Games 1 and 2 with a counterpunch of their own. A little-used backup center, Greg Kite, provided the spark. Kite, entering the game late in the first quarter when Robert Parish encountered foul trouble, played 20 minutes, and while he failed to score, he grabbed nine rebounds, blocked a Magic Johnson layup, and did solid body work on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The defensive minutes Kite gave Boston from the bench were just enough, as Larry Bird scored 30 points and Dennis Johnson hit 11 of 22 attempts from the field to finish with 26 points. The resurgent Celtics shot 17 of 21 from the floor in the second quarter.
Kevin McHale Celtics' forward bounced back in Boston with 21 points and 10 rebounds while letting the air out of James Worthy's game, limiting the Lakers' forward to only 13 points and three rebounds. Magic led the Lakers with 32 points in the 109–103 loss.
=== Game 4 ===
After their Game 3 win, Larry Bird said, "This (Game 3) was the most important game of the series for us. If we lost, it might've been tough to get up for Game 4. Now it's going to be easy."
In what would be one of, if not the greatest Finals game of all time The Celtics took it right to the Lakers, controlling the boards and taking a 55–47 lead into halftime. The Celtics had a balanced scoring attack with Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Danny Ainge, and Dennis Johnson all scoring in double figures. In the 3rd quarter, Bird finally got hot by scoring 12 in the quarter and helping the Celtics lead by as many as 16 points. But Los Angeles fought back to cut the Celtics lead to 85–78 going into the 4th.
In the 4th quarter the Lakers continued fighting back until they managed to tie the game at 95–95 on a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar skyhook with 5:30 remaining. The Celtics responded on both ends of the court by going on an 8–0 run, helped by good defense which led to 2 fast-break lay-ups to take a 103–96 lead with 2 minutes left. Then the Lakers called time out. On the Celtics' next possession, Robert Parish lost the ball to Michael Cooper. Cooper passed the ball ahead to Magic Johnson, who started a break. Cooper spotted up in 3-point territory, while Magic drove, forcing Cooper's defender to help out. Magic then kicked the ball out to a now wide open Cooper who drilled the three to cut the lead to 103–100.
On the Celtics next possession, Larry Bird forced a pass to Kevin McHale in the post, which instead sailed out of bounds, giving possession right back to the Lakers. James Worthy then hit a tough fade-away over Kevin McHale and Robert Parish in the lane to cut the deficit to one. On the very next possession, Bird missed a step-back jumper over the outstretched frame of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the Lakers got the ball back with just under 45 seconds remaining. The Lakers called a timeout to set up a pick for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The pass was there for an alley-oop dunk, and the Lakers took a 104–103 lead, their first lead since early in the 1st quarter. The Celtics called timeout with 29 seconds left in the game.
Out of the timeout Bird threw the ball inbounds and was immediately face-guarded by James Worthy. In fact, Worthy had a fist-full of Bird's jersey to make sure Bird would not score. With Worthy's defense, the Celtics could not get their best player the ball and instead went through the motions of their offense until Danny Ainge got open. That forced Worthy to let go of Bird and help out on Ainge. Bird immediately got himself open by going to the 3-point line right in front of the Lakers' bench. Ainge found Bird wide open and Bird hit the three point bomb with 12 seconds left, to put Boston up 106–104 and sent the Boston Garden crowd into a frenzy.
On the next possession, Abdul-Jabbar was fouled and went to the line, where he made the first and missed the second. The officials ruled that McHale fumbled the ball out of bounds with seven seconds left.
What followed was another play for the ages. Magic set a pick on Kevin McHale, which almost opened up a lay-up for Worthy, but Dennis Johnson was able to switch over in time on help defend. However, that left McHale scrambling to guard Magic who just got open and received the inbounds pass near the left sideline. Twenty feet from the basket, Magic had the advantage on the post-defender McHale, who was also playing through a bad ankle injury. Magic dribbled, hesitated to get McHale off-balance, then drove into the paint. Magic then lofted a hook shot, which just cleared the fingertips of both McHale and Parish, and swished through the net giving the Lakers a 107–106 lead with only 2 seconds left.
The Celtics still had one last shot: Dennis inbounded the ball to Bird, who had broken to the corner. Larry, to his surprise, found himself wide open behind the 3-point line right in front of the Lakers' bench. Bird caught the inbounds pass from Johnson, turned, and put up a fall-away jumper as time expired. The shot missed as the Boston crowd let out a collective groan and the Lakers' bench danced off the court to celebrate the victory. The win gave the Lakers a commanding 3–1 series lead.
=== Game 5 ===
The Celtics had to win Game 5 in the Garden, and would control most of the game. Danny Ainge set the tone by nailing 5 of 6 from 3-point range to give Boston early control, including a halfcourt heave at the buzzer before halftime.
Magic countered for Los Angeles with 29 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds, and four steals, but he received little help. Before the game Bird had told his teammates, "If they want to celebrate, let's not let them do it on the parquet." The Celtics had incentive enough. They got their second win, 123–108, and the series jetted back across the continent.
This was the last NBA Finals game played at Boston Garden. When the Celtics returned to the Finals in 2008, they had moved to TD Garden, which opened in 1995.
=== Game 6 ===
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar arrived for Game 6 with a shaved head and a determination to close out this series. For a while, though, it appeared like the Celtics would steal it. Magic Johnson had only four points at the half and Dennis Johnson poured in 18 for the Celtics on his way to a game-high 33 as Boston led 56–51 at intermission.
The Lakers scored the first two baskets of the second half to cut it to 56–55. On the Celtics' ensuing possession, James Worthy deflected a pass and gave chase. Worthy went to the floor, batted the ball inbounds to a breaking Magic Johnson, and Magic slammed home a breakaway dunk. This gave the Lakers their first lead of the game 57–56, since early in the first quarter, and they never trailed again. The Lakers outscored the Celtics 30–12 in the third quarter for an 18-point turnaround, mostly on fast breaks. The score at the end of three quarters was 81–68, Lakers. The Celtics only scored 12 points in the third quarter, one more than the record for the lowest scoring quarter in playoff history.
Worthy would finish with 22 points, and Mychal Thompson had 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, but the play of the Lakers' two superstars, Magic and Kareem, would be the dagger that finished off the Celtics. Magic recovered from his cold first half to post 16 points, 19 assists, and eight rebounds, and Kareem would pump in a team-high 32 points.
"Magic is a great, great basketball player," Bird stated flatly, settling the issue for the moment. "The best I've ever seen."
Indeed, Magic would gain the NBA Finals MVP award and his fourth championship ring.
For the Lakers, this would be their last NBA Finals series triumph over the Celtics until 2010.
This would also be the last time the NBA championship was ever clinched in an afternoon game. Following the 1991 NBA Finals all Finals games would be played in primetime.
== Team rosters ==
=== Los Angeles Lakers ===
=== Boston Celtics ===
== Player statistics ==
Los Angeles Lakers
Boston Celtics
== Television coverage ==
The Boston Celtics season documentary Home of the Brave, narrated by David Perry, recaps Boston's 1987 season while the Los Angeles Lakers documentary Drive for Five, narrated by legendary Lakers announcer Chick Hearn, recaps the Lakers' magnificent 1987 season in route to a fourth title of the 1980s.
CBS' James Brown filled in for Pat O'Brien when he attended the birth of his son. Brown was on for Games 3 and 4. Both Brown and O'Brien reported on the Lakers' sideline. While Lesley Visser was on for all the games as sideline reporter for CBS as she reported on the Celtics' sideline.
Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn worked play-by-play and color commentary respectively. It was the fourth consecutive and last Finals series to pair Stockton and Heinsohn together; Heinsohn was demoted in favor of Billy Cunningham following the series. At the time, Stockton and Heinsohn had worked the most number of NBA Finals series together. ESPN/ABC's Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy later broke the record for the most complete NBA Finals series called by a single television play-by-play/color commentary team following the 2011 NBA Finals, and called a record 14 complete NBA Finals series in total (the 2022 NBA Finals did involve the trio of Breen, Jackson and Van Gundy, but Mark Jones filled in for Breen on play-by-play in Games 1 and 2 due to his recovery from COVID-19, and Van Gundy missed Game 1 for the same reason).
== Aftermath ==
The 1987 Finals would be the Celtics' last until their 2008 championship season, but would be the last for the 'Big Three' of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. In K.C. Jones' final season as Celtics' coach they still won the Atlantic Division title by winning 57 games, but the Celtics fell in six games to the Detroit Pistons, in the rematch of their Eastern Conference finals showdown in 1988. The Celtics would not reach that far again for the next 14 years.
Following their championship win, Lakers coach Pat Riley guaranteed a repeat championship during the team's championship parade a few days after winning the NBA Finals. As Riley predicted, the Lakers would repeat as champions the following season, as they narrowly defeated the Detroit Pistons in seven games after a controversial foul on the Pistons saved the Lakers from elimination in Game 6.
Prior to 2008, the Celtics and Lakers came close to renewing their rivalry in 2002. But while the Lakers reached the Finals, the Celtics were upset by the New Jersey Nets, who were coached by Byron Scott, in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic | 2009 swine flu pandemic | The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918–1920 Spanish flu pandemic and the second being the 1977 Russian flu). The first identified human case was in La Gloria, Mexico, a rural town in Veracruz. The virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 that resulted from a previous triple reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses which further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus, leading to the term "swine flu".
Unlike most strains of influenza, the pandemic H1N1/09 virus did not disproportionately infect adults older than 60 years; this was an unusual and characteristic feature of the H1N1 pandemic. Even in the case of previously healthy people, a small percentage develop pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This manifests itself as increased breathing difficulty and typically occurs three to six days after initial onset of flu symptoms. The pneumonia caused by flu can be either direct viral pneumonia or a secondary bacterial pneumonia. A November 2009 New England Journal of Medicine article recommended that flu patients whose chest X-ray indicates pneumonia receive both antivirals and antibiotics. In particular, it is a warning sign if a child seems to be getting better and then relapses with high fever, as this relapse may be bacterial pneumonia.
Some studies estimated that the real number of cases including asymptomatic and mild cases could be 700 million to 1.4 billion people—or 11% to 21% of the global population of 6.8 billion at the time. The lower value of 700 million is more than the 500 million people estimated to have been infected by the Spanish flu pandemic. However, the Spanish flu infected approximately a third of the world population at the time, a much higher proportion.
The number of lab-confirmed deaths reported to the WHO is 18,449 and is widely considered a gross underestimate. The WHO collaborated with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) to produce two independent estimates of the influenza deaths that occurred during the global pandemic using two distinct methodologies. The 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic is estimated to have actually caused about 284,000 (range from 150,000 to 575,000) excess deaths by the WHO-USCDC study and 148,000–249,000 excess respiratory deaths by the WHO-NIVEL study. A study done in September 2010 showed that the risk of serious illness resulting from the 2009 H1N1 flu was no higher than that of the yearly seasonal flu. For comparison, the WHO estimates that 250,000 to 500,000 people die of seasonal flu annually. However, the H1N1 influenza epidemic in 2009 resulted in a large increase in the number of new cases of narcolepsy.
== Name ==
The World Health Organization uses the term "(H1N1) 2009 pandemic" when referring to the event, and officially adopted the name "A(H1N1)pdm09" for the virus in 2010, after the conclusion of the pandemic.
Controversy arose early on regarding the wide assortment of terms used by journalists, academics,
and officials. Labels like "H1N1 flu", "Swine flu", "Mexican flu", and variations thereof were typical. Criticism centered on how these names may confuse or mislead the public. It was argued that the names were overly technical (e.g. "H1N1"), incorrectly implying that the disease is caused by contact with pigs or pig products, or provoking stigmatization against certain communities (e.g. "Mexican"). Some academics of the time asserted there is nothing wrong with such names, while research published years later (in 2013) concluded that Mexican Americans and Latino Americans had indeed been stigmatized due to the frequent use of term "Mexican flu" in the news media.
Official entities adopted terms with varying consistency over the course of the pandemic. The CDC used names like "novel influenza A (H1N1)" or "2009 H1N1 flu". The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment used the term "Pig Flu" early on. Officials in Taiwan suggested use of the names "H1N1 flu" or "new flu". The World Organisation for Animal Health, an IGO based in Europe, proposed the name "North American influenza". The European Commission adopted the term "novel flu virus". Officials in Israel and South Korea briefly considered adoption of the name "Mexican virus" due to concern about the use of the word "swine". In Israel, objections stemmed from sensitivity to religious restrictions on eating pork in the Jewish and Muslim populations, in South Korea, concerns were influenced by the importance of pork and domestic pigs.
As terminology changed to deal with these and other such issues, further criticism was made that the situation was unnecessarily confusing. For example, the news department at the journal Science produced an article with the humorous title "Swine Flu Names Evolving Faster Than Swine Flu Itself".
== History ==
Analysis of the genetic divergence of the virus in samples from different cases indicated that the virus jumped to humans in 2008, probably after June, and not later than the end of November, likely around September 2008. The research also indicated the virus had been latent in pigs for several months prior to the outbreak, suggesting a need to increase agricultural surveillance to prevent future outbreaks. In 2009, U.S. agricultural officials speculated, although emphasizing that there was no way to prove their hypothesis, that "contrary to the popular assumption that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico, [the virus] most likely emerged in pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human." However, a subsequent report by researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 2016 found that the 2009 H1N1 virus likely originated from pigs in a very small region of central Mexico.
Initially called an "outbreak", widespread H1N1 infection was first recognized in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, with evidence that the virus had been present for months before it was officially called an "epidemic". The Mexican government closed most of Mexico City's public and private facilities in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus; however, it continued to spread globally, and clinics in some areas were overwhelmed by infected people. The new virus was first isolated in late April by American and Canadian laboratories from samples taken from people with flu in Mexico, Southern California, and Texas. Soon the earliest known human case was traced to a case from 9 March 2009 in a 5-year-old boy in La Gloria, Mexico, a rural town in Veracruz. In late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared its first ever "public health emergency of international concern", or PHEIC, and in June, the WHO and the U.S. CDC stopped counting cases and declared the outbreak a pandemic.
The H1N1 flu virus cannot be contracted by eating pork products; similar to other influenza viruses, it is typically contracted by person-to-person transmission through respiratory droplets. Symptoms usually last 4–6 days. Antivirals (oseltamivir or zanamivir) were recommended for those with more severe symptoms or those in an at-risk group.
The pandemic began to taper off in November 2009, and by May 2010, the number of cases was in steep decline. On 10 August 2010, the Director-General of the WHO, Margaret Chan, announced the end of the H1N1 pandemic and announced that the H1N1 influenza event had moved into the post-pandemic period. According to WHO statistics (as of July 2010), the virus had killed more than 18,000 people since it appeared in April 2009; however, they state that the total mortality (including deaths unconfirmed or unreported) from the H1N1 strain is "unquestionably higher". Critics claimed the WHO had exaggerated the danger, spreading "fear and confusion" rather than "immediate information". The WHO began an investigation to determine whether it had "frightened people unnecessarily". A flu follow-up study done in September 2010, found that "the risk of most serious complications was not elevated in adults or children." In a 5 August 2011 PLOS ONE article, researchers estimated that the 2009 H1N1 global infection rate was 11% to 21%, lower than what was previously expected. However, by 2012, research showed that as many as 579,000 people could have been killed by the disease, as only those fatalities confirmed by laboratory testing were included in the original number, and meant that many without access to health facilities went uncounted. The majority of these deaths occurred in Africa and Southeast Asia. Experts, including the WHO, have agreed that an estimated 284,500 people were killed by the disease, much higher than the initial death toll.
== Signs and symptoms ==
The symptoms of H1N1 flu are similar to those of other influenzas, and may include fever, cough (typically a "dry cough"), headache, dizziness, sneezing, muscle or joint pain, sore throat, chills, fatigue, and runny nose. Diarrhea, vomiting, and neurological problems have also been reported in some cases. People at higher risk of serious complications include people over 65, children younger than 5, children with neurodevelopmental conditions, pregnant women (especially during the third trimester), and people of any age with underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or a weakened immune system (e.g., taking immunosuppressive medications or infected with HIV). More than 70% of hospitalizations in the U.S. have been people with such underlying conditions, according to the CDC.
In September 2009, the CDC reported that the H1N1 flu "seems to be taking a heavier toll among chronically ill children than the seasonal flu usually does". Through 8 August 2009, the CDC had received 36 reports of pediatric deaths with associated influenza symptoms and laboratory-confirmed pandemic H1N1 from state and local health authorities within the United States, with 22 of these children having neurodevelopmental conditions such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or developmental delays. "Children with nerve and muscle problems may be at especially high risk for complications because they cannot cough hard enough to clear their airways". From 26 April 2009, to 13 February 2010, the CDC had received reports of the deaths of 277 children with laboratory-confirmed 2009 influenza A (H1N1) within the United States.
=== Severe cases ===
The World Health Organization reports that the clinical picture in severe cases is strikingly different from the disease pattern seen during epidemics of seasonal influenza. While people with certain underlying medical conditions are known to be at increased risk, many severe cases occur in previously healthy people. In severe cases, patients generally begin to deteriorate around three to five days after symptom onset. Deterioration is rapid, with many patients progressing to respiratory failure within 24 hours, requiring immediate admission to an intensive care unit. Upon admission, most patients need immediate respiratory support with mechanical ventilation.
=== Complications ===
Most complications have occurred among previously unhealthy individuals, with obesity and respiratory disease as the strongest risk factors. Pulmonary complications are common. Primary influenza pneumonia occurs most commonly in adults and may progress rapidly to acute lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation. Secondary bacterial infection is more common in children. Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains, is an important cause of secondary bacterial pneumonia with a high mortality rate; Streptococcus pneumoniae is the second most important cause of secondary bacterial pneumonia for children and primary for adults. Neuromuscular and cardiac complications are unusual but may occur.
A United Kingdom investigation of risk factors for hospitalisation and poor outcome with pandemic A/H1N1 influenza looked at 631 patients from 55 hospitals admitted with confirmed infection from May through September 2009. 13% were admitted to a high dependency or intensive care unit and 5% died; 36% were aged <16 years and 5% were aged ≥65 years. Non-white and pregnant patients were over-represented. 45% of patients had at least one underlying condition, mainly asthma, and 13% received antiviral drugs before admission. Of 349 with documented chest x-rays on admission, 29% had evidence of pneumonia, but bacterial co-infection was uncommon. Multivariate analyses showed that physician-recorded obesity on admission and pulmonary conditions other than asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were associated with a severe outcome, as were radiologically confirmed pneumonia and a raised C-reactive protein (CRP) level (≥100 mg/L). 59% of all in-hospital deaths occurred in previously healthy people.
Fulminant (sudden-onset) myocarditis has been linked to infection with H1N1, with at least four cases of myocarditis confirmed in patients also infected with A/H1N1. Three out of the four cases of H1N1-associated myocarditis were classified as fulminant, and one of the patients died.
Also, there appears to be a link between severe A/H1N1 influenza infection and pulmonary embolism. In one report, five out of 14 patients admitted to the intensive care unit with severe A/H1N1 infection were found to have pulmonary emboli.
An article published in JAMA in September 2010 challenged previous reports and stated that children infected in the 2009 flu pandemic were no more likely to be hospitalised with complications or get pneumonia than those who catch seasonal strains. Researchers found that about 1.5% of children with the H1N1 swine flu strain were hospitalised within 30 days, compared with 3.7% of those sick with a seasonal strain of H1N1 and 3.1% with an H3N2 virus.
== Diagnosis ==
Confirmed diagnosis of pandemic H1N1 flu requires testing of a nasopharyngeal, nasal, or oropharyngeal tissue swab from the patient. Real-time RT-PCR is the recommended test as others are unable to differentiate between pandemic H1N1 and regular seasonal flu. However, most people with flu symptoms do not need a test for pandemic H1N1 flu specifically, because the test results usually do not affect the recommended course of treatment. The U.S. CDC recommend testing only for people who are hospitalized with suspected flu, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems. For the mere diagnosis of influenza and not pandemic H1N1 flu specifically, more widely available tests include rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDT), which yield results in about 30 minutes, and direct and indirect immunofluorescence assays (DFA and IFA), which take 2–4 hours. Due to the high rate of RIDT false negatives, the CDC advises that patients with illnesses compatible with novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection but with negative RIDT results should be treated empirically based on the level of clinical suspicion, underlying medical conditions, severity of illness, and risk for complications, and if a more definitive determination of infection with influenza virus is required, testing with rRT-PCR or virus isolation should be performed. The use of RIDTs has been questioned by researcher Paul Schreckenberger of the Loyola University Health System, who suggests that rapid tests may actually pose a dangerous public health risk. Nikki Shindo of the WHO has expressed regret at reports of treatment being delayed by waiting for H1N1 test results and suggests, "[D]octors should not wait for the laboratory confirmation but make diagnosis based on clinical and epidemiological backgrounds and start treatment early."
On 22 June 2010, the CDC announced a new test called the "CDC Influenza 2009 A (H1N1)pdm Real-Time RT-PCR Panel (IVD)". It uses a molecular biology technique to detect influenza A viruses and specifically the 2009 H1N1 virus. The new test will replace the previous real-time RT-PCR diagnostic test used during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, which received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2009. Tests results are available in four hours and are 96% accurate.
== Cause ==
The virus was found to be a novel strain of influenza for which existing vaccines against seasonal flu provided little protection. A study at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in May 2009 found that children had no preexisting immunity to the new strain but that adults, particularly those older than 60, had some degree of immunity. Children showed no cross-reactive antibody reaction to the new strain, adults aged 18 to 60 had 6–9%, and older adults 33%. While it has been thought that these findings suggest the partial immunity in older adults may be due to previous exposure to similar seasonal influenza viruses, a November 2009 study of a rural unvaccinated population in China found only a 0.3% cross-reactive antibody reaction to the H1N1 strain, suggesting that previous vaccinations for seasonal flu and not exposure may have resulted in the immunity found in the older U.S. population.
Analyses of the genetic sequences of the first isolates, promptly shared on the GISAID database according to Nature and WHO, soon determined that the strain contains genes from five different flu viruses: North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and two swine influenza viruses typically found in Asia and Europe. Further analysis has shown that several proteins of the virus are most similar to strains that cause mild symptoms in humans, leading virologist Wendy Barclay to suggest on 1 May 2009, that the initial indications are that the virus was unlikely to cause severe symptoms for most people.
The virus was less lethal than previous pandemic strains and killed about 0.01–0.03% of those infected; the 1918 influenza was about one hundred times more lethal and had a case fatality rate of 2–3%. By 14 November 2009, the virus had infected one in six Americans with 200,000 hospitalisations and 10,000 deaths—as many hospitalizations and fewer deaths than in an average flu season overall, but with much higher risk for those under 50. With deaths of 1,100 children and 7,500 adults 18 to 64, these figures were deemed "much higher than in a usual flu season" during the pandemic.
In June 2010, scientists from Hong Kong reported discovery of a new swine flu virus: a hybrid of the pandemic H1N1 virus and viruses previously found in pigs. It was the first report of a reassortment of the pandemic virus, which in humans had been slow to evolve. Nancy Cox, head of the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said, "This particular paper is extremely interesting because it demonstrates for the first time what we had worried about at the very onset of the pandemic, and that is that this particular virus, when introduced into pigs, could reassort with the resident viruses in pigs and we would have new gene constellations. And bingo, here we are." Pigs have been termed the mixing vessel of flu because they can be infected both by avian flu viruses, which rarely directly infect people, and by human viruses. When pigs become simultaneously infected with more than one virus, the viruses can swap genes, producing new variants which can pass to humans and sometimes spread amongst them. "Unlike the situation with birds and humans, we have a situation with pigs and humans where there's a two-way street of exchange of viruses. With pigs it's very much a two-way street."
=== Transmission ===
Spread of the H1N1 virus is thought to occur in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something—such as a surface or object—with flu viruses on it and then touching their face.
The basic reproduction number (the average number of other individuals whom each infected individual will infect, in a population which has no immunity to the disease) for the 2009 novel H1N1 is estimated to be 1.75. A December 2009 study found that the transmissibility of the H1N1 influenza virus in households is lower than that seen in past pandemics. Most transmissions occur soon before or after the onset of symptoms.
The H1N1 virus has been transmitted to animals, including swine, turkeys, ferrets, household cats, at least one dog, and a cheetah.
== Prevention ==
Because the H1N1 vaccine was initially in short supply in the United States, the CDC recommended that initial doses should go to priority groups such as pregnant women, people who live with or care for babies under six months old, children six months to four years old and health-care workers. In the United Kingdom, the NHS recommended vaccine priority go to people over six months old who were clinically at risk for seasonal flu, pregnant women and households of people with compromised immunity.
Although it was initially thought that two injections would be required, clinical trials showed that the new vaccine protected adults "with only one dose instead of two;" thus the limited vaccine supplies would go twice as far as had been predicted. Health officials worldwide were also concerned because the virus was new and could easily mutate and become more virulent, even though most flu symptoms were mild and lasted only a few days without treatment. Officials also urged communities, businesses, and individuals to make contingency plans for possible school closures, multiple employee absences for illness, surges of patients in hospitals, and other effects of potentially widespread outbreaks. Disaster response organizations such as Direct Relief helped by providing protective items to clinical workers to help them stay healthy throughout flu season.
In February 2010, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted for "universal" flu vaccination in the United States to include all people over six months of age. The 2010–2011 vaccine will protect against the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus and two other flu viruses.
=== Public health response ===
On 27 April 2009, the European Union health commissioner advised Europeans to postpone nonessential travel to the United States or Mexico. This followed the discovery of the first confirmed case in Spain. On 6 May 2009, the Public Health Agency of Canada announced that their National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) had mapped the genetic code of the swine flu virus, the first time that had been done. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service launched a website, the National Pandemic Flu Service, allowing patients to self-assess and get an authorisation number for antiviral medication. The system was expected to reduce the burden on general practitioners.
U.S. officials observed that six years of concern about H5N1 avian flu did much to prepare for the current H1N1 outbreak, noting that after H5N1 emerged in Asia, ultimately killing about 60% of the few hundred people infected over the years, many countries took steps to try to prevent any similar crisis from spreading further. The CDC and other U.S. governmental agencies used the summer lull to take stock of the United States response to H1N1 flu and attempt to patch any gaps in the public health safety net before flu season started in early autumn. Preparations included planning a second influenza vaccination program in addition to the one for seasonal flu, and improving coordination between federal, state, and local governments and private health providers. On 24 October 2009, U.S. President Obama declared swine flu a national emergency, giving Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius authority to grant waivers to requesting hospitals from usual federal requirements.
=== Vaccines ===
By 19 November 2009, doses of vaccine had been administered in over 16 countries. A 2009 review by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that the 2009 H1N1 vaccine has a safety profile similar to that of the seasonal vaccine.
In 2011, a study from the US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network estimated the overall effectiveness of all pandemic H1N1 vaccines at 56%. A CDC study released 28 January 2013, estimated that the Pandemic H1N1 vaccine saved roughly 300 lives and prevented about a million illnesses in the US. The study concluded that had the vaccination program started two weeks earlier, close to 60% more cases could have been prevented. The study was based on an effectiveness in preventing cases, hospitalizations, and deaths of 62% for all subgroups except people over 65, for whom the effectiveness was estimated at 43%. The effectiveness was based on European and Asian studies and expert opinion. The delay in vaccine administration demonstrated the shortcomings of the world's capacity for vaccine-production, as well as problems with international distribution. Some manufacturers and wealthy countries had concerns regarding liability and regulations, as well as the logistics of transporting, storing, and administering vaccines to be donated to poorer countries.
=== Accusations of conflict of interest ===
In January 2010, Wolfgang Wodarg, a German deputy who trained as a physician and chaired the health committee at the Council of Europe, claimed that major firms had organized a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a "false pandemic" to sell vaccines. Wodarg said the WHO's "false pandemic" flu campaign is "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century". He said that the "false pandemic" campaign began in May 2009 in Mexico City, when a hundred or so "normal" reported influenza cases were declared to be the beginning of a threatening new pandemic, although he said there was little scientific evidence for it. Nevertheless, he argued that the WHO, "in cooperation with some big pharmaceutical companies and their scientists, re-defined pandemics," removing the statement that "an enormous amount of people have contracted the illness or died" from its existing definition and replacing it by stating simply that there has to be a virus, spreading beyond borders and to which people have no immunity.
The WHO responded by stating that they take their duty to provide independent advice seriously and guarded against interference from outside interests. Announcing a review of the WHO's actions, spokeswoman Fadela Chaib stated: "Criticism is part of an outbreak cycle. We expect and indeed welcome criticism and the chance to discuss it". The WHO also stated on their website that "The world is going through a real pandemic. The description of it as a fake is wrong and irresponsible". In March 2010, the Council of Europe launched an enquiry into "the influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign", and a preliminary report was in preparation.
On 12 April 2010, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top influenza expert, stated that the system leading to the declaration of a pandemic led to confusion about H1N1 circulating around the world and he expressed concern that there was a failure to communicate in regard to uncertainties about the new virus, which turned out to be not as deadly as feared. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan appointed 29 flu experts from outside the organization to conduct a review of WHO's handling of the H1N1 flu pandemic. She told them, "We want a frank, critical, transparent, credible and independent review of our performance."
In June 2010, Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of the BMJ, published an editorial which criticised the WHO, saying that an investigation had disclosed that some of the experts advising WHO on the pandemic had financial ties with drug companies which were producing antivirals and vaccines. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, replied stating, "Without question, the BMJ feature and editorial will leave many readers with the impression that WHO's decision to declare a pandemic was at least partially influenced by a desire to boost the profits of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line, however, is that decisions to raise the level of pandemic alert were based on clearly defined virological and epidemiological criteria. It is hard to bend these criteria, no matter what the motive".
=== Infection control ===
==== Travel precautions ====
On 7 May 2009, the WHO stated that containment was not feasible and that countries should focus on mitigating the effect of the virus. They did not recommend closing borders or restricting travel. On 26 April 2009, the Chinese government announced that visitors returning from flu-affected areas who experienced flu-like symptoms within two weeks would be quarantined.
U.S. airlines had made no major changes as of the beginning of June 2009, but continued standing practices which include looking for passengers with symptoms of flu, measles or other infections, and relying on in-flight air filters to ensure that aircraft were sanitised. Masks were not generally provided by airlines and the CDC did not recommend that airline crews wear them. Some non-U.S. airlines, mostly Asian, including Singapore Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Aeromexico, took measures such as stepping up cabin cleaning, installing state-of-the-art air filters and allowing in-flight staff to wear face masks.
According to studies conducted in Australia and Japan, screening individuals for influenza symptoms at airports during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak was not an effective method of infection control.
==== Schools ====
U.S. government officials were especially concerned about schools because the H1N1 flu virus appeared to disproportionately affect young and school-age people, between six months and 24 years of age.
The H1N1 outbreak led to numerous precautionary school closures in some areas. Rather than closing schools, the CDC recommended that students and school workers with flu symptoms should stay home for either seven days total, or until 24 hours after symptoms subsided, whichever was longer. The CDC also recommended that colleges should consider suspending fall 2009 classes if the virus began to cause severe illness in a significantly larger share of students than the previous spring. They also urged schools to suspend rules, such as penalties for late papers or missed classes or requirements for a doctor's note, to enforce "self-isolation" and prevent students from venturing out while ill; schools were advised to set aside a room for people developing flu-like symptoms while they waited to go home and to have ill students or staff and those caring for them use face masks.
In California, school districts and universities were on alert and worked with health officials to launch education campaigns. Many planned to stockpile medical supplies and discuss worst-case scenarios, including plans to provide lessons and meals for low-income children in case elementary and secondary schools closed. University of California campuses stockpiled supplies, from paper masks and hand sanitizer to food and water. To help prepare for contingencies, University of Maryland School of Medicine professor of pediatrics James C. King Jr. suggested that every county should create an "influenza action team" to be run by the local health department, parents, and school administrators. By 28 October 2009, about 600 schools in the United States had been temporarily closed, affecting over 126,000 students in 19 states.
==== Workplace ====
Fearing a worst-case scenario, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) developed updated guidance and a video for employers to use as they developed plans to respond to the H1N1 outbreak. The guidance suggested that employers consider and communicate their objectives, such as reducing transmission among staff, protecting people who are at increased risk of influenza-related complications from becoming infected, maintaining business operations, and minimising adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains.
The CDC estimated that as much as 40% of the workforce might be unable to work at the peak of the pandemic due to the need for many healthy adults to stay home and care for an ill family member, and advised that individuals should have steps in place should a workplace close down or a situation arise that requires remote work. The CDC further advised that persons in the workplace should stay home sick for seven days after getting the flu, or 24 hours after symptoms end, whichever is longer.
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also issued general guidance for employers.
==== Face masks ====
The U.S. CDC did not recommend the use of face masks or respirators in non-health care settings, such as schools, workplaces, or public places, with a few exceptions: people who were ill with the virus when around other people, and people who were at risk for severe illness while caring for someone with the flu. There was some disagreement about the value of wearing face masks, as some experts feared that masks may have given people a false sense of security and should not have replaced other standard precautions.
Yukihiro Nishiyama, professor of virology at Nagoya University's School of Medicine, commented that the masks are "better than nothing, but it's hard to completely block out an airborne virus since it can easily slip through the gaps".
According to mask manufacturer 3M, masks will filter out particles in industrial settings, but "there are no established exposure limits for biological agents such as swine flu virus". However, despite the lack of evidence of effectiveness, the use of such masks is common in Asia.
They are particularly popular in Japan, where cleanliness and hygiene are highly valued and where etiquette obligates those who are sick to wear masks to avoid spreading disease.
==== Quarantine ====
During the height of the fear of a pandemic, some countries initiated or threatened to initiate quarantines of foreign visitors suspected of having or being in contact with others who may have been infected. In May 2009, the Chinese government confined 21 U.S. students and three teachers to their hotel rooms. As a result, the US State Department issued a travel alert about China's anti-flu measures and warned travellers against travelling to China if ill. In Hong Kong, an entire hotel was quarantined with 240 guests; Australia ordered a cruise ship with 2,000 passengers to stay at sea because of a swine flu threat. Egyptian Muslims who went on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca risked being quarantined upon their return. Russia and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors with fevers who come from areas where the flu was present. Japan quarantined 47 airline passengers in a hotel for a week in mid-May, then in mid-June India suggested pre-screening "outbound" passengers from countries thought to have a high rate of infection.
==== Pigs and food safety ====
The pandemic virus is a type of swine influenza, derived originally from a strain which lived in pigs, and this origin gave rise to the common name of "swine flu". This term is widely used by mass media, though the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health as well as industry groups such as the U.S. National Pork Board, the American Meat Institute, and the Canadian Pork Council objected to widespread media use of the name "swine flu" and suggested it should be called "North American flu" instead, while the World Health Organization switched its designation from "swine influenza" to "influenza A (H1N1)" in late April 2009. The virus has been found in U.S. hogs, and Canadian as well as in hogs in Northern Ireland, Argentina, and Norway. Leading health agencies and the United States Secretary of Agriculture have stressed that eating properly cooked pork or other food products derived from pigs will not cause flu. Nevertheless, on 27 April Azerbaijan imposed a ban on the importation of animal husbandry products from the entire Americas. The Indonesian government also halted the importation of pigs and initiated the examination of 9 million pigs in Indonesia. The Egyptian government ordered the slaughter of all pigs in Egypt on 29 April.
== Treatment ==
A number of methods have been recommended to help ease symptoms, including adequate liquid intake and rest. Over-the-counter pain medications such as paracetamol and ibuprofen do not kill the virus; however, they may be useful to reduce symptoms. Aspirin and other salicylate products should not be used by people under 16 with any flu-type symptoms because of the risk of developing Reye syndrome.
If the fever is mild and there are no other complications, fever medication is not recommended. Most people recover without medical attention, although ones with pre-existing or underlying medical conditions are more prone to complications and may benefit from further treatments.
People in at-risk groups should be treated with antivirals (oseltamivir or zanamivir) as soon as possible when they first experience flu symptoms. The at-risk groups include pregnant and post partum women, children under two years old, and people with underlying conditions such as respiratory problems. People who are not in an at-risk group who have persistent or rapidly worsening symptoms should also be treated with antivirals. People who have developed pneumonia should be given both antivirals and antibiotics, as in many severe cases of H1N1-caused illness, bacterial infection develops. Antivirals are most useful if given within 48 hours of the start of symptoms and may improve outcomes in hospitalised patients. In those beyond 48 hours who are moderately or severely ill, antivirals may still be beneficial. If oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is unavailable or cannot be used, zanamivir (Relenza) is recommended as a substitute. Peramivir is an experimental antiviral drug approved for hospitalised patients in cases where the other available methods of treatment are ineffective or unavailable.
To help avoid shortages of these drugs, the U.S. CDC recommended oseltamivir treatment primarily for people hospitalised with pandemic flu; people at risk of serious flu complications due to underlying medical conditions; and patients at risk of serious flu complications. The CDC warned that the indiscriminate use of antiviral medications to prevent and treat influenza could ease the way for drug-resistant strains to emerge, which would make the fight against the pandemic that much harder. In addition, a British report found that people often failed to complete a full course of the drug or took the medication when not needed.
=== Side effects ===
Both medications mentioned above for treatment, oseltamivir and zanamivir, have known side effects, including lightheadedness, chills, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and trouble breathing. Children were reported to be at increased risk of self-injury and confusion after taking oseltamivir. The WHO warned against buying antiviral medications from online sources and estimated that half the drugs sold by online pharmacies without a physical address were counterfeit.
=== Resistance ===
In December 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 314 samples of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu tested worldwide have shown resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu). It is not totally unexpected as 99.6% of the seasonal H1N1 flu strains tested have developed resistance to oseltamivir. No circulating flu has yet shown any resistance to zanamivir (Relenza), the other available anti-viral.
=== Antivirals effectiveness questioned in healthy adults ===
On 8 December 2009, the Cochrane Collaboration, which reviews medical evidence, announced in a review published in BMJ that it had reversed its previous findings that the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) can ward off pneumonia and other serious conditions linked to influenza. They reported that an analysis of 20 studies showed oseltamivir offered mild benefits for healthy adults if taken within 24 hours of onset of symptoms, but found no clear evidence it prevented lower respiratory tract infections or other complications of influenza. Of note, their published finding related only to use in healthy adults with influenza but not in patients judged to be at high risk of complications (pregnant women, children under five and those with underlying medical conditions), and uncertainty over its role in reducing complications in healthy adults still left it as a useful drug for reducing the duration of symptoms. In general, the Cochrane Collaboration concluded "Paucity of good data".
== Epidemiology ==
While it is not known precisely where or when the virus originated, analyses in scientific journals have suggested that the H1N1 strain responsible for the 2009 outbreak first evolved in September 2008 and circulated amongst humans for several months, before being formally recognised and identified as a novel strain of influenza.
=== Mexico ===
The virus was first reported in two U.S. children in March 2009, but health officials have reported that it apparently infected people as early as January 2009 in Mexico. The outbreak was first identified in Mexico City on 18 March 2009; immediately after the outbreak was officially announced, Mexico notified the U.S. and World Health Organization, and within days of the outbreak Mexico City was "effectively shut down". Some countries cancelled flights to Mexico while others halted trade. Calls to close the border to contain the spread were rejected. Mexico already had hundreds of non-lethal cases before the outbreak was officially discovered, and was therefore in the midst of a "silent epidemic". As a result, Mexico was reporting only the most serious cases which showed more severe signs different from those of normal flu, possibly leading to a skewed initial estimate of the case fatality rate.
=== United States ===
The new strain was first identified by the CDC in two children, neither of whom had been in contact with pigs. The first case, from San Diego County, California, was confirmed from clinical specimens (nasopharyngeal swab) examined by the CDC on 14 April 2009. A second case, from nearby Imperial County, California, was confirmed on 17 April. The patient in the first confirmed case had flu symptoms including fever and cough upon clinical examination on 30 March and the second on 28 March.
The first confirmed H1N1/09 pandemic flu death, which occurred at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, was of a toddler from Mexico City who was visiting family in Brownsville, Texas, before being air-lifted to Houston for treatment. The Infectious Diseases Society of America estimated that the total number of deaths in the U.S. was 12,469.
=== Data reporting and accuracy ===
Influenza surveillance information "answers the questions of where, when, and what influenza viruses are circulating. Sharing of such information is especially crucial during an emergent pandemic as in April 2009, when the genetic sequences of the initial viruses were rapidly and openly shared via the GISAID Initiative within days of identification, playing a key role in facilitating an early response to the evolving pandemic. Surveillance is used to determine if influenza activity is increasing or decreasing, but cannot be used to ascertain how many people have become ill with influenza." For example, as of late June, influenza surveillance information showed the U.S. had nearly 28,000 laboratory-confirmed cases including 3,065 hospitalizations and 127 deaths. But mathematical modelling showed an estimated 1 million Americans had the 2009 pandemic flu at the time, according to Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the CDC. Estimating deaths from influenza is also a complicated process. In 2005, influenza only appeared on the death certificates of 1,812 people in the US. The average annual US death toll from flu is, however, estimated to be 36,000. The CDC explains: "[I]nfluenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications" and hence, "Only counting deaths where influenza was included on a death certificate would be a gross underestimation of influenza's true impact."
Influenza surveillance information on the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic is available, but almost no studies attempted to estimate the total number of deaths attributable to H1N1 flu. Two studies were carried out by the CDC; the later of them estimated that between 7,070 and 13,930 deaths were attributable to H1N1 flu from April to 14 November 2009. During the same period, 1,642 deaths were officially confirmed as caused by H1N1 flu. The WHO stated in 2010 that total mortality (including unconfirmed or unreported deaths) from H1N1 flu was "unquestionably higher" than their own confirmed death statistics.
The initial outbreak received a week of near-constant media attention. Epidemiologists cautioned that the number of cases reported in the early days of an outbreak can be very inaccurate and deceptive, due to several causes, among them selection bias, media bias and incorrect reporting by governments. Inaccuracies could also be caused by authorities in different countries looking at differing population groups. Furthermore, countries with poor health care systems and older laboratory facilities may take longer to identify or report cases. "[E]ven in developed countries the [numbers of flu deaths] are uncertain, because medical authorities don't usually verify who actually died of influenza and who died of a flu-like illness". Joseph S. Bresee, then CDC flu division's epidemiology chief and Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy pointed out that millions of people have had H1N1 flu, usually in a mild form, so the numbers of laboratory-confirmed cases were actually meaningless, and in July 2009, the WHO stopped keeping count of individual cases and focused more on major outbreaks.
=== Follow-up ===
A Wisconsin study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in September 2010, reported that findings showed that the 2009 H1N1 flu was no more severe than the seasonal flu. "The risk of most serious complications was not elevated in adults or children", the study's authors wrote. "Children were disproportionately affected by 2009 H1N1 infection, but the perceived severity of symptoms and risk of serious outcomes were not increased." Children infected in the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic were no more likely to be hospitalized with complications or get pneumonia than those who catch seasonal strains. About 1.5% of children with the H1N1 swine flu strain were hospitalized within 30 days, compared with 3.7% of those sick with a seasonal strain of H1N1 and 3.1% with an H3N2 virus.
CDC illness and death estimates from April 2009 to April 2010, in the US are as follows:
between 43 million and 89 million cases of 2009 H1N1 occurred between April 2009 and 10 April 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 61 million people infected with 2009 H1N1.
between about 195,000 and 403,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations occurred between April 2009 and 10 April 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 274,000 2009 H1N1-related hospitalizations.
between about 8,870 and 18,300 2009 H1N1-related deaths occurred between April 2009 and 10 April 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 12,470 2009 H1N1-related deaths.
It has been stated that about 36,000 die from the seasonal flu in the U.S. each year, and this is frequently understood as an indication that the H1N1 strain was not as severe as seasonal influenza. The 36,000 estimate was presented in a 2003 study by CDC scientists and refers to a period from 1990 to 1991 through 1998–99. During those years, the number of estimated deaths ranged from 17,000 to 52,000, with an average of about 36,000. Throughout that decade, influenza A (H3N2) was the predominant virus during most of the seasons, and H3N2 influenza viruses are typically associated with higher death rates. The JAMA study also looked at seasonal influenza-associated deaths over a 23-year period, from 1976 to 1977 and 1998–99 with estimates of respiratory and circulatory influenza-associated deaths ranging from about 5,000 to about 52,000, and an average of about 25,000. CDC believes that the range of deaths over the past 31 years (~3,000 to ~49,000) is a more accurate representation of the unpredictability and variability of flu-associated deaths. The annual toll from seasonal influenza in the US between 1979 and 2001 is estimated at 41,400 deaths on average. Therefore, the H1N1 pandemic estimated mortality of 8,870 to 18,300 is just below the mid-range of estimates.
The 2009 pandemic caused US hospitals to make significant preparations in terms of hospital surge capacities, especially within the emergency department and among vulnerable populations. In many cases, hospitals were relatively successful in making sure that those patients most severely affected by the influenza strain were able to be seen, treated, and discharged in an efficient manner. A case-study of the preparation, planning, mitigation, and response efforts during the fall of 2009 is that of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) which took several steps to increase the emergency department (ED) surge capacity response. CHOP used portions of the main lobby area as an ED waiting room; several of the region's hospital-based outpatient facilities were in use during evening and weekend hours for non-emergency cases; the ED's 24-hour short-stay unit was utilized to care for ED patients in a longer-term capacity; non-board certified physicians (in pediatric emergency medicine) and inpatient-unit medical nurses were utilized for ED patient care; hospital units normally utilized for other medical or therapeutic purposes were transformed into ED patient rooms; and rooms normally used for only one patient were expanded to at least a capacity of 2.
== Comparisons to other pandemics and epidemics ==
Annual influenza epidemics are estimated to affect 5–15% of the global population. Although most cases are mild, these epidemics still cause severe illness in 3–5 million people and 290,000–650,000 deaths worldwide every year. On average 41,400 people die of influenza-related illnesses each year in the United States, based on data collected between 1979 and 2001. In industrialised countries, severe illness and deaths occur mainly in the high-risk populations of infants, the elderly and chronically ill patients, although the H1N1 flu outbreak (like the 1918 Spanish flu) differs in its tendency to affect younger, healthier people.
In addition to these annual epidemics, Influenza A virus strains caused three global pandemics during the 20th century: the Spanish flu in 1918, Asian flu in 1957, and Hong Kong flu in 1968–69. These virus strains had undergone major genetic changes for which the population did not possess significant immunity. Recent genetic analysis has revealed that three-quarters, or six out of the eight genetic segments, of the 2009 flu pandemic strain arose from the North American swine flu strains circulating since 1998, when a new strain was first identified on a factory farm in North Carolina, and which was the first-ever reported triple-hybrid flu virus.
The Spanish flu began with a wave of mild cases in the spring, followed by more deadly waves in the autumn, eventually killing hundreds of thousands in the United States and 50–100 million worldwide. The great majority of deaths in the 1918 flu pandemic were the result of secondary bacterial pneumonia. The influenza virus damaged the lining of the bronchial tubes and lungs of patients, allowing common bacteria from the nose and throat to infect their lungs. Subsequent pandemics have had many fewer fatalities due to the development of antibiotic medicines which can treat pneumonia.
The influenza virus has caused several pandemic threats over the past century, including the pseudo-pandemic of 1947 (thought of as mild because although globally distributed, it caused relatively few deaths), the 1976 swine flu outbreak and the 1977 Russian flu, all caused by the H1N1 subtype. The world has been at an increased level of alert since the SARS epidemic in Southeast Asia (caused by the SARS coronavirus). The level of preparedness was further increased and sustained with the advent of the H5N1 bird flu outbreaks because of H5N1's high fatality rate, although the strains currently prevalent have limited human-to-human transmission (anthroponotic) capability, or epidemicity.
People who contracted influenza before 1957 appeared to have some immunity to H1N1 flu. According to Daniel Jernigan, head of flu epidemiology for the U.S. CDC "Tests on blood serum from older people showed that they had antibodies that attacked the new virus ... That does not mean that everyone over 52 is immune, since Americans and Mexicans older than that have died of the new flu".
In June 2012, a model based study found that the number of deaths related to the H1N1 influenza may have been fifteen times higher than the reported laboratory confirmed deaths, with 80% of the respiratory and cardiovascular deaths in people younger than 65 years and 51% occurring in southeast Asia and Africa. A disproportionate number of pandemic deaths might have occurred in these regions and that efforts to prevent future influenza pandemics need to effectively target these regions.
A WHO-supported 2013 study estimated that the 2009 global pandemic respiratory mortality was ~10-fold higher than the World Health Organization's laboratory-confirmed mortality count (18.631). Although the pandemic mortality estimate was similar in magnitude to that of seasonal influenza, a marked shift toward mortality among persons less than 65 years of age occurred, so that many more life-years were lost. Between 123,000 and 203,000 pandemic respiratory deaths were estimated globally for the last nine months of 2009. The majority (62–85%) were attributed to persons under 65 years of age. The burden varied greatly among countries. There was an almost 20-fold higher mortality in some countries in the Americas than in Europe. The model attributed 148,000–249,000 respiratory deaths to influenza in an average pre-pandemic season, with only 19% in persons <65 years of age.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not caused by an influenza virus but SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus which also primarily affects the respiratory system. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardi_B | Cardi B | Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (formerly Cephus; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Born and raised in New York City, she is known for her energetic rap flow and outspoken lyrics. Since launching her music career in 2016 and releasing her two mixtapes, Cardi B has been cited for her part in helping elevate the relevance of female rappers in popular music.
Her first studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), debuted atop the Billboard 200 with the largest female rap album streaming week of all time and became the best-selling and the highest-certified female rap album of the 21st century. Ranked by Rolling Stone as the best debut album of all time by a female rapper, it made Cardi B the first solo female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Its singles "Bodak Yellow" and "I Like It" both topped the Billboard Hot 100 and were certified diamond by the RIAA; the former made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Hot 100 with a solo song in the 21st century and the first to achieve a diamond-certified song, while the latter made her the first with multiple number-one songs. Her third US number-one, the collaboration "Girls Like You" in 2018, made her the first female rapper to earn multiple RIAA diamond-certified songs.
Cardi B's second album, Am I the Drama? (2025), made her the only female rapper in history to have her first two albums debut atop the Billboard 200. It became the female rap album with the highest certification of the 2020s, the most weeks inside the top ten of the Billboard 200 in the 2020s, and the most charting songs (18) in Billboard Hot 100 history. Including the US top-ten song "Outside" and US number-ones "WAP" and "Up", it tied with her own Invasion of Privacy as the female rap album with the most Hot 100 number-ones (two each). "WAP" is the only female rap collaboration to debut atop the Hot 100 and had a large cultural impact.
Cardi B is the female rapper with the most number-one singles (five) on the Billboard Hot 100, the only female rapper to achieve multiple solo number-ones, and the only to earn number-one singles in two decades (2010s and 2020s). She further is the highest-certified female rapper of all time in US digital single sales (69 million), has three diamond-certified songs—with "Bodak Yellow" being the highest-certified female rap song of all time—and achieved an overall total of 100 million RIAA-certified units sold in the US. Additionally, Invasion of Privacy is the most-streamed female rap album on Apple Music and Spotify, and was the first album in history to have all of its tracks certified platinum or higher. Cardi B has won a Grammy Award, the most Billboard Music Awards (8), Guinness World Records (8), BET Hip Hop Awards (14), and ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards (2) among female rappers, six American Music Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards. Time listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, while Billboard named her Woman of the Year in 2020 and ranked Invasion of Privacy as the top female rap album of the 2010s.
== Early life ==
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar was born on October 11, 1992, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Her father Carlos is Dominican and her mother Clara is a Trinidadian of mixed descent; Almánzar identifies as an Afro-Caribbean. Almánzar was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood of the South Bronx, and spent much time at her paternal grandmother's home in Washington Heights, which she credits with giving her "such a thick accent." Almánzar developed the stage name "Cardi B" as a derivation of Bacardi, a rum brand that was formerly her nickname. She has a younger sister, Hennessy Carolina, who was born in 1995. She has said she was a gang member with the Bloods in her youth, since age 16, but stated she would not encourage joining a gang. She attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school on the Herbert H. Lehman High School campus. Belcalis speaks Dominican Spanish, English, and a small amount of Russian and French.
During her teens, Cardi B was employed at a grocery store in Tribeca. She was fired and became a dancer at a strip club across the street. Cardi B has said that becoming a stripper was positive for her life in many ways: "It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school." She stated that she became a stripper to escape poverty and domestic violence, having been in an abusive relationship at the time after being kicked out of her mother's house, and that stripping was her only way to earn enough money to escape the situation and get an education. She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before eventually dropping out. While stripping, Cardi B lied to her mother by telling her she was making money by babysitting.
In 2013, she began to gain publicity due to several of her videos spreading on social media, on Vine and her Instagram page.
== Career ==
=== 2015–2016: Career beginnings ===
In 2015, Cardi B joined the cast of the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, debuting in season six. Jezebel considered her the breakout star of the show's sixth season. The New York Times wrote that she garnered popularity with "her ability to rattle off one-liners". The sixth and seventh seasons chronicle her rise to stardom and her turbulent relationship with her incarcerated fiancé. On December 30, 2016, after two seasons, she announced that she would be leaving the show to further pursue a career in music.
In November 2015, Cardi B made her musical debut on Jamaican reggae fusion singer Shaggy's remix to his single "Boom Boom", alongside fellow Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan. She made her music video debut on December 15, 2015, with the song "Cheap Ass Weave", her rendition of British rapper Lady Leshurr's "Queen's Speech 4". On March 7, 2016, Cardi B released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1. In November 2016, she was featured on the digital cover of Vibe magazine's "Viva" issue.
On September 12, 2016, KSR Group released the compilation Underestimated: The Album, a collaboration between Cardi B and other KSR Group artists HoodCelebrityy, SwiftOnDemand, Cashflow Harlem, and Josh X. It was previously released only to attendees of their U.S. tour. As the label's flagship artist, Cardi B said: "I wanted to make a song that would make girls dance, twerk and at the same time encourage them to go get that Shmoney," in regard to the compilation's single "What a Girl Likes".
She appeared on the December 9, 2015, episode of Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne. On April 6, 2016, she was on the twelfth episode of Khloé Kardashian's Kocktails with Khloé: in this episode, she revealed how she told her mother that she was a stripper. In November 2016, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of the BET series Being Mary Jane. TVLine describes her character, Mercedes, as a "round-the-way beauty with a big weave, big boobs and a big booty to match her oversize, ratchet personality."
In 2016, Cardi B was featured in her first endorsement deal with Romantic Depot, a large New York chain of lingerie stores that sell sexual health and wellness products. The ad campaign was featured on radio and cable TV.
=== 2017–2018: Breakthrough with Invasion of Privacy ===
On January 20, 2017, Cardi B released her second mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2. In February 2017, Cardi B partnered with MAC Cosmetics and Rio Uribe's Gypsy Sport for an event for New York Fashion Week. In late February, Cardi B signed her first major record label recording contract with Atlantic Records. On February 25, 2017, Cardi B was the opening act for East Coast hip hop group The Lox's Filthy America... It's Beautiful Tour, alongside fellow New York City-based rappers Lil' Kim and Remy Ma. In April 2017, she was featured in i-D's "A-Z of Music" video sponsored by Marc Jacobs. Cardi guest-starred on the celebrity panel show Hip Hop Squares, appearing on the March 13 and April 3, 2017, episodes. She also released the freestyle "Red Barz".
In May 2017, the nominees for the 2017 BET Awards were announced, revealing that Cardi B had been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist. Although Chance the Rapper and Remy Ma won those categories, respectively, Cardi B performed at the BET Awards Afterparty show. On June 11, 2017, during Hot 97's annual Summer Jam music festival, Remy Ma brought out Cardi B, along with The Lady of Rage, MC Lyte, Young M.A, Monie Love, Lil' Kim, and Queen Latifah, to celebrate female rappers and perform Latifah's 1993 hit single "U.N.I.T.Y." about female empowerment. In June 2017, it was revealed that Cardi B would be on the cover of The Fader's Summer Music issue for July/August 2017. She performed at MoMA PS1 on August 19 to a crowd of 4,000.
On June 16, 2017, Atlantic Records released Cardi B's commercial debut single, "Bodak Yellow", via digital distribution. She performed the single on The Wendy Williams Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! The song climbed the charts for several months, and, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated September 25, 2017, "Bodak Yellow" reached the number one spot, making Cardi B the first female rapper to do so with a solo single since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted atop the chart in 1998. The song stayed atop the charts for three consecutive weeks, tying with American pop singer Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" as the longest running female at the number one spot in 2017.
Cardi B became the first person of Dominican descent to reach number one in the history of the Hot 100 since it was launched in 1958. An editor of The New York Times called it "the rap anthem of the summer". Selected by The Washington Post and Pitchfork music critics as the best song of 2017, "Bodak Yellow" was eventually certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received nominations for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song at the 60th Grammy Awards. It won Single of the Year at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards. With her collaborations "No Limit" and "MotorSport", she became the first female rapper to land her first three entries in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and the first female artist to achieve the same on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In October 2017, Cardi B headlined Power 105.1's annual Powerhouse music celebration, alongside the Weeknd, Migos, and Lil Uzi Vert, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. In December, she released two songs: a collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Ozuna titled "La Modelo", and "Bartier Cardi", the second single from her debut album.
On January 3, 2018, Cardi B was featured on the remix of Bruno Mars' single "Finesse", and appeared in the 90s inspired video. It reached the top three on the Hot 100, Canada and New Zealand. On January 18, 2018, Cardi B became the first female rapper to have five top 10 singles simultaneously on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. She released another single, "Be Careful", on March 30, 2018, a week before her album's release.
Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, was released on April 6, 2018, to universal acclaim from music critics. Editors from Variety and The New York Times called it "one of the most powerful debuts of this millennium" and "a hip-hop album that doesn't sound like any of its temporal peers," respectively. The album entered at number one in the United States, while she became the first female artist to chart 13 entries simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, on the chart issue dated April 21. It became the most streamed album by a female artist in a single week in Apple Music, and the largest on-demand audio streaming week ever for an album by a woman. Cardi held the latter record until 2019. The album's title reflects Cardi B's feeling that as she gained popularity her privacy was being invaded in a variety of ways. Following the album's release, during a performance on Saturday Night Live, Cardi B officially announced her pregnancy, after much media speculation. She also co-hosted an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
After the release of "Girls" in May 2018, a collaboration where she had a featured verse, Cardi B responded to accusations of the song trivializing LGBT relationships; she tweeted, "We never try to cause harm or had bad intentions with the song." She went on to add, "I personally myself had experiences with other women." Several months later, in July 2018, Invasion's fourth single, "I Like It", which features vocals from Bad Bunny and J Balvin, reached number one on the Hot 100; this marked her second number one on the chart and made her the first female rapper to achieve multiple chart-toppers. It received critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone naming it "the best summer song of all time" in 2020. Her collaboration with Maroon 5, "Girls Like You", also reached number one on the Hot 100 chart, extending her record among female rappers and also making her the sixth female artist to achieve three number-one singles on the chart during the 2010s. The song's music video has received more than 3.8 billion views on YouTube and was the fifth-best selling song of the year globally.
With "Girls Like You" following "I Like It" at the top of the Billboard Radio Songs chart, Cardi B became the first female rapper to replace herself at number one on the chart. The single spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100, making Cardi the female rapper with the most cumulative weeks atop the chart, with eleven weeks. It spent 33 weeks in the top 10, tying both Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" for the longest top 10 run in the chart's archives at the time. In September 2025, Invasion of Privacy was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA. With the thirteen tracks, it became the first album in history to have all of its songs certified platinum or higher in the US.
Cardi B received the most nominations for the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards with 12 mentions—including for Video of the Year, winning three awards. She tied with Drake for the most nominations at the 2018 American Music Awards. She won three AMAs and performed at the ceremony. Her single "Money" earned her a fourth Video Music Award, with visuals that feature Cardi playing characters in different locations, including in an art museum, a bank and a strip club. Her collaboration with DJ Snake "Taki Taki" topped the charts in a number of Hispanic countries, made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Spotify Global 50 chart, and has garnered more than 2 billion views. Both singles were certified multiple-platinum by the RIAA. People en Español named her Star of the Year, and Entertainment Weekly deemed her "a pop culture phenomenon", as she was named one of "2018 Entertainers of the Year".
On November 30, 2018, Cardi B was honored at Ebony's annual Power 100 Gala. Cardi ranked fifth on the 2018 Billboard Year-End Top Artists chart, while Invasion of Privacy ranked sixth. She achieved the most-streamed album of the year by a female artist globally in Apple Music, and ranked as the most streamed female artist of the year in the United States in Spotify. Editorial staff from Apple Music and Billboard named "I Like It" the best song of 2018, while Time magazine and Rolling Stone named Invasion of Privacy the best album of the year. Also in 2018, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In its decade-end review article, NME stated that the era secured "her crown as the new Queen of Rap."
=== 2019–2020: Hustlers, Rhythm + Flow and "WAP" ===
Cardi B received five nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album and Record of the Year ("I Like It"). She became the third female rapper to be nominated for Album of the Year, following Lauryn Hill (1999) and Missy Elliott (2004). On February 10, 2019, she then performed at the award ceremony, where she wore three vintage Thierry Mugler couture looks during the telecast and became the first female rapper to win Best Rap Album as a solo artist. Cardi B led the 2019 Billboard Music Awards nominations, with 21, earning the most nominations in a single year by a female artist and the third most nominations in a year (behind Drake and The Chainsmokers, who both had 22 in a year). She ended up winning six awards, including for Top Hot 100 Song, bringing her career total wins to seven—the most of any female rapper in history. An article by Omaha World-Herald called her "the biggest rapper in the world."
On February 15, 2019, Cardi B released "Please Me", a collaboration with Bruno Mars, which became her seventh top-ten song on the Hot 100, reaching number three. The song marked Cardi and Bruno's second collaboration, following "Finesse" in 2018. The official music video was released two weeks later. On March 1, Cardi set a new attendance record at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, with 75,580 fans in the audience. With "Backin' It Up", "Twerk" and "Money", Cardi became the first female artist to occupy the top three on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart.
Her following single titled "Press" was released on May 31, 2019. The parental-advisory labeled music video marked her directorial debut—being credited as co-director, and was released on June 26, 2019. It had its debut performance at the 2019 BET Awards, where she received the most nominations with seven, and won Album of the Year. During the summer of 2019, she embarked on an arena tour. In September, she led the BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with ten.
Cardi B made her film debut in Hustlers directed by Lorene Scafaria, opposite Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, and Lili Reinhart. The film was released on September 13, 2019. Cardi B, along with Chance the Rapper and T.I., were confirmed as judges for the Netflix series Rhythm + Flow, a ten-part hip-hop talent search that premiered on October 9, 2019, which she also executive produced. In December 2019, Cardi B embarked on her first tour of Africa, performing in Nigeria and Ghana. Her collaboration "Clout" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. She was the most streamed female rapper of 2019 in the US, according to Spotify. Consequence of Sound deemed her "one of the most formidable hip-hop artists of the decade." In March 2020, Cardi B created a reaction video about the coronavirus pandemic. DJ iMarkkeyz, a Brooklyn DJ known for turning memes and online moments into full-length songs, created a track, based on her reaction titled "Coronavirus", which became an internet meme and was released to music platforms. Netflix announced the return of Rhythm + Flow for 2021.
Cardi B released the single "WAP" featuring American rapper Megan Thee Stallion on August 7, 2020, as the lead single off her forthcoming second studio album. The song received critical acclaim and was praised for its sex positive messages. The Colin Tilley-directed music video accompanied the song itself, and broke the record for the biggest 24-hour debut for an all-female collaboration on YouTube. She became the only female rap artist to top the Global Spotify chart multiple times. "WAP" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, garnering Cardi B her fourth chart-topper in the US, extending her record as the female rapper with the most number-one singles, and also making her the first female rapper to achieve Hot 100 number one singles in two different decades (2010s and 2020s).
With 93 million streaming units, it became the largest first-week streams for a song, breaking the all-time record held by Ariana Grande's "7 Rings". It has spent four weeks atop the Hot 100. The single has also spent multiple weeks at number one in seven other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. Neil Shah of The Wall Street Journal deemed it "a big moment for female rappers" and "a historic sign that women artists are making their mark on hip-hop like never before". "WAP" became the first number one single on the inaugural Billboard Global 200 chart.
It became critics' best song of the year according to a compilation of rankings made by the BBC, with publications such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone placing it at number one. Cardi B won the Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Female Artist for the third time at the 2020 ceremony. In December 2020, Cardi B became the first female rapper to be named Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music Awards. With her win for "WAP" at the American Music Awards, she became the first artist to win the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Song multiple times, following her win for "Bodak Yellow" in 2018.
=== 2021–2024: Standalone singles and other ventures ===
On February 5, 2021, Cardi B released "Up". The song was praised by NME magazine for its lyricism and fresh approach as a successor to "WAP". "Up" debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking the highest debut for a solo female rap song since Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" in 1998. It debuted at number one on the Rolling Stone Top 100, becoming both Cardi B's second number-one single and second number-one debut, as well as the first time a female rapper debuted atop the chart with a solo song. Cardi B became the first female artist and first lead artist with consecutive number-one debuts on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and second overall performer following Drake in 2016. "Up" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after her Grammy Awards performance, making her the only female rapper to reach the summit multiple times with solo songs, following "Bodak Yellow", and extended her record as the female rapper with the most number-one songs on the Hot 100 as her fifth chart-topper. Cardi B received a second nomination for the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist.
Cardi B made a last-minute appearance in "Big Paper", from DJ Khaled's album Khaled Khaled released on April 30, 2021. She received two nominations for the BET Award for Video of the Year, for the music videos of "Up" and "WAP", winning for the latter and becoming the first female rapper to win Video of the Year as a lead artist. It marked the tenth time that an artist had two nominated videos in this category as a lead act, and the second time for her, following her nominations for "Money" and "Please Me" in 2019. Cardi played a brief role in F9, which was released on June 25, 2021, by Universal Pictures. On July 16, she was featured on the Normani single "Wild Side". Cardi collaborated with Lizzo on "Rumors", which debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her tenth top-ten single on the chart, and her seventh number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. She received six nominations at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, including her second nomination for Video of the Year. Cardi also led the nominations for the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Megan Thee Stallion, with nine each; both rappers won the most awards during the ceremony with three for "WAP", with Cardi becoming the first female artist to win Best Hip Hop Video twice (2019 and 2021). On November 21, Cardi B hosted the 2021 American Music Awards (AMAs). The award show was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, and marked the most social telecast of the year per interactions across social media. During the ceremony, "Up" won the award for Favorite Hip Hop Song, making Cardi the first artist to win the category three times. She featured on Summer Walker's second studio album Still Over It on the opening track "Bitter", released on November 5, 2021. Cardi co-executive produced Halle Berry's directorial debut, the sports drama Bruised, released via Netflix on November 17. She also performed an original song "Bet It" for the film's soundtrack, released by Warner Records two days after.
In March 2022, Cardi B appeared on the extended version of Summer Walker and SZA's collaboration, "No Love". The following month, she featured on rapper Kay Flock's song, "Shake It"; it samples Akon's 2005 song "Belly Dancer (Bananza)". Also in April, Cardi guest-voiced as Sharki B, her "aquatic alter ego", on "The Seaweed Sway" episode of the Nickelodeon animated series Baby Shark's Big Show!—and performed a song of the same name. She appeared alongside Offset and her daughter. On July 1, 2022, Cardi B released "Hot Shit", featuring rappers Kanye West and Lil Durk. The song was first announced during a BET Awards 2022 commercial break. On July 8 and 9, she headlined the 2022 Wireless Festival in London and Birmingham. Cardi B worked with cousin and fellow rapper GloRilla on the remix to her song "Tomorrow", titled "Tomorrow 2", which was released in September 2022. The remix peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Cardi's eleventh top-ten single. HipHopDX listed it as the "Best Hip-Hop Collaboration" of 2022 while it was also the highest-listed song by a female rapper on Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. On October 1, Cardi B made a surprise appearance at the Inglewood show of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny's concert tour, the World's Hottest Tour. In November, she signed with entertainment executive Irving Azoff's Full Stop Management. In December 2022, she gave a 35-minute private performance at the Miami Art Basel for which she was paid $1 million. Later that month, a remix of Spanish artist Rosalía's song "Despechá" featuring Cardi, was released.
Cardi B appeared as a surprise performer at the New York City shows of SZA and GloRilla's tours: the SOS Tour and Anyways, Life's Great Tour, in early 2023. In April, she served as one of three headliners of the inaugural Rolling Loud Thailand festival in Pattaya, along with Travis Scott and Chris Brown. In June, she featured on "Put It on da Floor Again", the remix to rapper Latto's "Put It on da Floor". It peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100, becoming Cardi's 20th top-twenty single. On June 4, Cardi B headlined the 2023 Summer Jam festival in Elmont, New York. ln July, she featured on "Point Me 2", the remix to drill rapper FendiDa Rappa's single "Point Me to the Slut's". Later that month, she collaborated with Offset on two tracks of his second solo album, Set It Off (2023): "Freaky" and "Jealousy". The latter was released as the lead single of the record; it samples Three 6 Mafia's "Jealous Ass Bitches". On September 8, 2023, Cardi released "Bongos" featuring Megan Thee Stallion, which marks the pair's second collaboration after "WAP" (2020). The music video, directed by Tanu Muino, cost over $2 million. "Bongos" reached number 14 in the US. Cardi led the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards nominations with 21 Savage, with twelve each. She reprised her voice role as Sharki B for the children's animated film, Baby Shark's Big Movie!, in which ch she appeared alongside Offset and their two children. It premiered in December on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon. Cardi B co-headlined TikTok's inaugural In the Mix festival on December 10 in Mesa, Arizona, which was released as a concert special on Disney+ and Hulu on December 15. She performed at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, accompanied by DJ Gryffin, on December 31, 2023, which aired live for the 2024 edition of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.
She released the promotional single "Like What (Freestyle)" on March 1, 2024, with an accompanying music video directed by Offset. Her first solo song since "Up" (2021), it is a freestyle of rapper Missy Elliot's "She's a Bitch" (1999). The track reached the top 40 in the US and became Cardi's 19th top-ten and 11th chart-topper on Hot Rap Songs and Hot Rap Digital Songs. It was followed by "Enough (Miami)" on March 15, which marked her 12th top-ten on the Hot 100 and seventh number-one on the Digital Songs chart. A remix of Flo Milli's "Never Lose Me" was released on the same day, featuring SZA and Cardi B. On March 11, Cardi joined Madonna onstage for a guest appearance at the Inglewood show of her Celebration Tour. She appeared on "Puntería" with Shakira, the opening track and eighth single of the latter's twelfth album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, released on March 22, 2024. "Puntería" reached number one on the Latin Airplay chart and topped the Latin Pop Airplay chart for nine weeks. On May 21, Cardi B appeared as a surprise performer at the Madison Square Garden show of Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer Tour. She featured on the remix of Thee Stallion and GloRilla's "Wanna Be", released on May 31. In June, Cardi featured on "Put Em in the Fridge" from Peso Pluma's fourth album Éxodo. She co-headlined the BET Experience festival at the Crypto.com Arena on June 28. Her collaboration with Rob49, titled "On Dat Money", was released on July 19. "Enough (Miami)" was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.
=== 2025–present: Am I the Drama? ===
On February 7, 2025, Cardi and Pardison Fontaine released "Toot It Up". She then featured alongside DJ Khaled, Natania, and Subhi on Desi Trill's "Higher Love", released on February 21 as the lead single of the Smurfs soundtrack. In June 2025, Cardi B headlined the 2025 LadyLand music festival along with FKA Twigs in Brooklyn. She hosted WWE's 2025 SummerSlam event on August 2 and 3 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Cardi's second studio album Am I the Drama?, was released on September 19, 2025, over seven years after her debut album. The project was delayed numerous times over multiple years after the release of Invasion of Privacy, citing perfectionism and pressure to live up to expectations. Recorded over a six-year period, the album features 23 tracks, including her previous singles "WAP" and "Up".
It was preceded by the singles "Outside" on June 20 and "Imaginary Playerz" on August 15. The former debuted at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Cardi the female rapper with the most top-ten debuts on the chart (3), while the latter samples Jay-Z's 1997 track "Imaginary Players". "Safe", featuring Kehlani, was released as the third single in tandem with the album; it became Cardi's tenth number-one on the Billboard Rhythmic Airplay chart. Am I the Drama? was met with positive reviews from critics, with Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone describing it as a "massive comeback triumph". It debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 200,000 album-equivalent units, marking Cardi's second consecutive number-one album and achieving 2025's biggest sales week for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman. She became the only female rapper in history to have her first two albums debut atop the Billboard 200. The record earned the most entries for a female rap album in Hot 100 history (18 songs). It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, becoming the highest-certified female rap album of the 2020s decade and the fastest female album in history to achieve the feat. It was also the fastest album to be certified double platinum in history. On September 27, Cardi co-headlined the Global Citizen Festival in New York City. On December 13, she headlined the final night of the 2025 Soundstorm Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In support of Am I the Drama?, she will conduct the Little Miss Drama Tour, consisting of 35 arena shows across the US and Canada, from February to April 2026.
On January 15, 2026, it was announced that Cardi B was nominated as Best International Act at that year's MOBO Awards. In February, 2026, she won three awards at the NAACP Image Awards: Outstanding Album for Am I The Drama?, Outstanding Hip-Hop/Rap Song for "ErrTime" and further became the first Hip-Hop artist to win Outstanding Female Artist since Lauryn Hill in 1999. Am I The Drama? is only the third hip-hop album to win Outstanding Album, following Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1999) and Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. (2018).
== Artistry ==
=== Influences ===
In Billboard's "You Should Know" series, Cardi B said the first albums she ever purchased were by American entertainers Missy Elliott and Tweet, respectively. She has credited Puerto Rican rapper Ivy Queen and Jamaican dancehall artist Spice as influences, as well as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lil' Kim, Madonna, and Selena. She has mentioned Chicago drill music as an important influence. When asked about the initial direction for her music, Cardi B said in an interview, "When I first started rapping [...] I liked certain songs from Khia and Trina, and they [were] fighting songs. I haven't heard fighting songs for a very long time," crediting the two female rappers for her aggressive rap style. She continued, saying "a lot of girls they cannot afford red bottoms, a lot of girls they cannot afford foreign cars [...] but I know that every girl has beef with a girl [...] I know that every bitch don't like some bitch, and it's like 'that's what I wanna rap about.'" She credits her experiences growing up in the South Bronx for her success, stating: "I wouldn't be able to rap about the things that I rap about now [if I hadn't grown up there]."
=== Musical style ===
Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, is primarily a hip hop record, which comprises elements of trap, Latin music, and R&B. Her flow was described as "acrobatic and nimble" by Consequence of Sound, and "aggressive" by Newsweek and AllMusic. Stereogum called her vocals an "unabashedly loud and sexual fuck-you New York honk" and "a full-bodied New Yawk nasal bleat, the sort of thing that you've heard if someone has ever told you that you stupid for taking too long at swiping your MetroCard." Pitchfork wrote that her vocal performance in "WAP" is in "her classic throaty style", while Los Angeles Times characterized it as a "staccato bark".
NME described her album as "sexually free" and performed with "rapid" flow. Pitchfork and The Source highlighted the album's punchlines as clever and quotable, and The New York Times called them "classically comedic". In a 2017 Complex article, the editor wrote: "unapologetic does not begin to describe the totally unfiltered and sheer Cardi B-ness of Cardi B's personality. She's a hood chick who's not afraid to be hood no matter the setting ... this is why she resonates with people, and that same energy comes out in her music." She possesses a New York-Dominican accent.
Cardi B has defended her musical content featuring sexually charged lyrics—like most contemporary female rappers; she stated that the content "seems like that's what people want to hear", since she faced negative reactions after releasing her more emotional song, "Be Careful". She has declared, "[Drill music] is the type of artist I always wanted to be: I like to rap about the streets, and I like to rap about my pussy. I don't give a fuck about it." She has stated that writing and performing songs about her personal life and relationships initially caused her a "weird and uncomfortable" feeling and shyness.
== Other ventures ==
=== Products and endorsements ===
In February 2017, she partnered with M.A.C and Rio Uribe's Gypsy Sport for a New York Fashion Week event. Her April appearance in i-D's "A-Z of Music" video was sponsored by designer Marc Jacobs, and she made the cover of The Fader's July/August 2017 Summer Music issue. Tom Ford's Cardi B-inspired lipstick, named after her, was released in September 2018. It sold out within 24 hours. In November, she released a clothing line collection with Fashion Nova. The same month she partnered with Reebok, promoting the brand's Aztrek sneaker.
In partnership with Reebok, she released a footwear and apparel collection in 2020, inspired by her personal style and paying homage to "classic 80s styling" and motifs. She released her second collection with Reebok in 2021, titled "Let Me Be...In My World", comprising sneakers, tracksuits, and corsets, inspired by everyday life in New York City. The third collection with the brand, "Mommy & Me", was released in May 2021 in recognition of Mother's Day, which includes Cardi's iteration of Club C shoes for adults, children, and infants. The next, titled "Let Me Be...Enchanted" was released in two parts in June and July 2022; it was revealed to be inspired by "a state of enchantment and euphoria" and included crop tops, faux fur jackets, and leotards along with footwear. The fifth and final collection, "Let Me Be...Next Level Energy", was also released in two parts in September and December 2022, concluding her four-year partnership with Reebok. Inspired by Cardi B's "unmatched energy", the collection consisted of bodysuits, crop tops, footwear, leggings, and woven jackets—of a color palette based on crystals.
Cardi B teamed up with Pepsi for three television commercials, which aired during the Super Bowl LIII, the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, and Christmas. In early 2019, Cardi also joined other hip hop artists (including her husband Offset, as part of Migos) in releasing her flavors of snack food Rap Snacks: two flavors of chips, and two of popcorn. The bags' artwork was designed by Jai Manselle and inspired by the cover of Invasion of Privacy. In December 2021, Cardi B partnered with PLBY Group Inc. as creative director in residence for Playboy and founding member of Centerfold, a creator-driven website in the works. The partnership also includes fashion and sexual wellness products.
In February 2023, Cardi B and Offset partnered with McDonald's to create the Cardi B and Offset meal, which was launched on Valentine's Day. The meal was first announced in the 2023 McDonald's Super Bowl commercial which the couple appeared in. In October, she fronted the campaign for Skims' Cotton Collection. The campaign generated over $4 million in media impact value (MIV). In December 2023, Cardi made her runway debut at the Balenciaga fall 2024 show in Los Angeles. In February 2024, she starred in NYX Cosmetics' inaugural Super Bowl commercial for Super Bowl LVIII, titled "Lips Only". An edited version of the advert—centered around the company's Duck Plump lip gloss—was broadcast during the commercial break, due to ribald themes of humor. In May 2024, Cardi appeared alongside sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson in a commercial for the 2024 Summer Olympics. In July, she fronted the Marc Jacobs fall 2024 campaign. In April 2025, Cardi B and e-commerce fashion retailer Revolve Group announced a joint venture under which she will launch apparel and beauty lines. In September 2025, she recorded public service announcements for MTA New York City Transit's subway system. The following month, she joined infant formula company Bobbie as its honorary "Chief Confidence Officer" and starred in the campaign "The B is for Bobbie".
=== Whipshots ===
In collaboration with Starco Brands, Cardi B launched a vodka-infused, vegan whipped cream, called Whipshots, in the US in December 2021. It has sold over five million cans as of March 2024.
=== Cardi Tries ===
She premiered the series Cardi Tries via Facebook Messenger in December 2020, with herself as one of the executive producers. The web series ran for three seasons until April 2023.
=== Grow Good Beauty ===
In 2026, Cardi B announced the launch of her debut hair care brand, Grow Good Beauty. The venture follows years of the artist sharing homemade hair mask recipes and DIY hair care routines with her followers on social media, which frequently featured ingredients such as avocado, aloe vera, and argan oil. Industry analysts noted that the transition into the beauty space was a "natural evolution" for the rapper, given her long-standing transparency regarding her natural hair journey and her advocacy for hair health within the Afro-Latino community.
According to Women's Wear Daily (WWD), the brand aims to provide "accessible luxury" in the textured hair care market, focusing on hydration, growth, and scalp health. The initial product lineup is reported to include a range of oils, masks, and shampoos formulated to cater to various hair textures, specifically addressing the needs of those with natural and chemically treated hair. Financial experts have highlighted the strategic timing of the launch, noting that Cardi B's significant digital footprint and "authentic connection" to the subject matter position Grow Good Beauty to compete with established celebrity-led beauty brands. Speaking on the brand's philosophy, Essence noted that the venture is not merely a celebrity endorsement but a "labor of love" rooted in the artist's personal history of mixing her own treatments at home before finding mainstream fame.
=== Philanthropy ===
In 2022, Cardi B donated $100,000 to the elementary school she attended, I.S. 232 in The Bronx. In the same year, Cardi B pledged to cover the funeral expenses of all 17 victims of the 2022 Bronx apartment fire, as well as repatriation costs for a number of the victims who are to be buried in Gambia.
== Public image ==
=== Political statements ===
Cardi B identifies as a feminist. The rapper has been called "unabashedly, directly political" and often uses social media to advocate for causes she believes in, such as gun control. During the 2016 presidential primaries, she warned her fans of Donald Trump's immigration policies and encouraged them to vote for Senator Bernie Sanders. At the Grammy Awards in 2018, she appeared in a video along with Hillary Clinton to narrate a portion of Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff's insider's account of Trump's administration, and stated "Why am I even reading this shit? I can't believe this. I can't believe—this is how he really lives his life?"
Early in 2018, she used her social media to demand transparency on tax policy, asking for detailed information on how her taxpayer dollars are being spent in New York state and criticizing the maintenance of its streets, prisons, and public transportation. Also in 2018, she praised President Franklin D. Roosevelt for advocating for the Social Security program and the New Deal project. She said of Roosevelt, "he helped us get over the Depression, all while he was in a wheelchair. Like, this man was suffering from polio at the time of his presidency, and yet all he was worried about was trying to make America great—make America great again for real. He's the real 'Make America Great Again,' because if it wasn't for him, old people wouldn't even get Social Security." Sanders has praised her for her "leading role" in calling attention to Social Security.
Cardi B endorsed Sanders once again in his second bid for the presidency in the 2020 United States presidential election, while praising U.S. Representative Tim Ryan. She stated that one of the reasons for her endorsement is Sanders' long-time involvement in supporting underprivileged minorities and "people getting Medicare because he knows they can't afford it," while Politico argued that she "might be one of Bernie's most powerful 2020 allies."
In 2020, Cardi B used her social pages to raise awareness for victims of police brutality, and has encouraged people to vote for mayors, judges and district attorneys in local elections. In a conversation with Democratic candidate Joe Biden for Elle, they discussed Medicare, free college tuition, and racial equality. According to a study published by The Hollywood Reporter, Cardi B ranked as the fifth most influential celebrity, and fourth among Generation Z, for the 2020 presidential election.
In late 2023, Cardi B stated she no longer supports Joe Biden for president, saying that she would "not [be] endorsing no fucking presidents no more" as a result of Biden's "spending on wars". In 2024, she endorsed Kamala Harris. She endorsed Jasmine Crockett in the 2026 United States Senate election in Texas.
=== Fashion ===
Cardi has a noted affinity for Christian Louboutin heels, a running theme in her song "Bodak Yellow". She has also mentioned her affinity for cheap, fast fashion brands stating "I don't care if it cost $20 or $15. If it looks good on me, it looks good on me". During an interview in early 2017, Cardi B spoke on being rejected by some fashion designers. Cardi wore vintage Thierry Mugler to the 2019 Grammy Awards, with an i-D article stating that the fashion house's "resurgence onto the fashion scene can almost single-handedly be attributed" to the Swarovski crystal-embroidered crinoline sheath gown she wore at the ceremony.
Mugler's collaboration with Cardi B marked the second time in 25 years that the Paris house opened its archives to dress a celebrity, the first being Beyoncé for her 2009 concert tour. W magazine credited the "WAP" music video for popularizing the Mugler bodysuit in the mainstream. Cardi has acknowledged Mugler as one of the first designers to "take a major chance on [her]" for their fashion collaborations.
Vogue, The Telegraph, Time, and Vibe have referred to her as a fashion icon. An article from Vogue noted she "is famous for her statement getups—whether she's rocking archival Mugler on the red carpet, or dripping in Chanel while sitting courtside at a basketball game." Her over-the-top manicures, designed by nail artist Jenny Bui and studded with Swarovski crystals, has become a part of her signature look. Editor Christian Allaire from the magazine in 2021 commented that her signature "bold" ensembles "create a spectacle" during fashion weeks.
In 2018, she became the first female rapper in the U.S. to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the cover, one of four for the January 2019 issue that included Stella McCartney, features her in a red and white Michael Kors dress and matching red Jimmy Choo shoes, while holding her daughter, Kulture.
In 2019, the Council of Fashion Designers of America included her on their list of "28 Black Fashion Forces". Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour commended her fashion sense, declaring that she "completely rethought [her] opinion of Cardi B's style" after the 2019 Met Gala, where the rapper wore a Thom Browne-designed burgundy gown that extends outward in concentric circles for about ten feet and was inspired by the female form.
Cardi B became the face of Balenciaga's ad campaign for the winter 2020 season. The campaign includes billboards in several international locations, such as the Louvre museum. Vogue's Brooke Bobb commented, "This is Cardi's first campaign for a luxury fashion house, though she's definitely no stranger to the Parisian style scene", citing her floral printed Richard Quinn ensemble "that literally covered her from head to toe" and her being "a front row fixture" at high fashion shows, adding, "She and her stylist Kollin Carter have been wildly successful in carving out a much-needed space for Cardi within the fashion industry, and they've cultivated a personal style that is all her own while being inspiring to all".
In 2020, Cardi B became the first female rapper to be awarded by the FN Achievement Awards when she won the Style Influencer of the Year award, which was presented to her by Christian Louboutin. In a press release for the awards show, she was called an "influence just about everything in pop culture—from music, fashion and style to social media, politics and even public service". In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked her as the second most-stylish woman in music, behind Lady Gaga, and GQ considered her "one of fashion's preeminent risk-takers."
== Impact ==
Cardi B has been referred to as the "Reigning Queen of Hip Hop" by multiple publications, including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Omaha World-Herald, Black Enterprise, Newsweek, and The A.V. Club, and as the "Queen of Rap" by NME, Essence, Harper's Bazaar Malaysia, The Jakarta Post, Uproxx, iHeartRadio, Geo TV, Vanity Fair, Joe, Boston Herald, Refinery 29, France 24, and Nigerian media The Guardian, BBC News, and Daily Trust.
Spin staff credited her for opening "the table to a new generation of pop artists remaking American music in their own image and accents," as Cardi B "recognized that POC artists no longer need to pander or soften themselves in order to become household names." Billboard editors stated that with "Bodak Yellow"'s commercial success, "she left an indelible mark on the summer of 2017, not only because she rewrote history, but she gave hope to the have nots...". Several publications have credited "I Like It", the first Latin trap song to reach number one on the Hot 100, for introducing the "musical movement" to a mainstream, massive audience. Billboard's Carl Lamarre considered "WAP"'s achievements "a clever Trojan horse for the myriad ways Cardi influences the culture with every move she makes." Billboard noted that from the late 2010s to the early 2020s, "Cardi kept cranking out hits that either crossed over to pop radio (like "Girls Like You" with Maroon 5) or exploded across hip-hop culture (like "WAP" with Megan Thee Stallion), while also dabbling in Hollywood projects and brand deals".
The Wall Street Journal's Neil Shah stated in 2020 that her breakthrough and success influenced "today's female-rap renaissance," while Genius staff credited her for "helping jumpstart a new wave of female hip-hop signings and promotion at labels," and NPR Music commented that the "renaissance" of the dynamism of women in rap grew "in enthusiasm and breadth" since Cardi's "first historic run" in 2017. Similarly, Clover Hope's book The Motherlode (2021) stated that Invasion of Privacy "jump-started a new era for women rappers in which success felt much more tangible" as Cardi B "multiplied the wealth of talent and resurrected the idea that numerous women who controlled their own stories could dominate rap at once."
The New Yorker has credited her for "changing a genre that has rarely allowed for more than one female superstar at a time." Uproxx noted Cardi B for promoting up-and-coming female rappers; "[she is] choosing to use her position at the height of stardom to open doors for other women to flourish in hip-hop at a greater level than any since the Golden Era and 'Ladies First'," considering it "something of a departure from tradition; for the decade previous to Cardi's precipitous come-up, it seemed hip-hop had an unspoken, Highlander-esque rule in place regarding women." Variety deemed her a "hip-hop icon", and The Independent called her "the people's pop culture icon", writing that she "has become one of the most recognisable cultural figures of the past 10 years". In 2024, Billboard included Cardi B among the honorable mentions of its "25 Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" listicle. The magazine called her one of the "most influential female rappers ever, and one of the most bankable hit-makers across all of hip-hop".
NPR defined "Cardi B effect" as "a branding power rooted in specific authenticity, created and permeated by rapper Cardi B" and noticed that with her breakthrough, "brands finally started to become hip to [her] effect, noticing the cultural markers outside of the rap world that were proving it wasn't limited to clubs, concerts and radio." Business magazine Inc. stated that her success "shows how social media changed everything we knew about traditional marketing and media", which no longer relies on a "well-thought marketing scheme or millions of dollars in advertising." In 2019, a life-sized sculpture of her was on display at the Brooklyn Museum, as part of Spotify's RapCaviar "Pantheon".
Bloomberg News reported that her data bill helped to boost Ghana's GDP growth in 2019, after it was part of a concert tour. She inspired the creation of the sitcom Partners in Rhyme, executively produced by MC Lyte about a young woman in high school who "aspires to be the next Cardi B." P-Valley creator and executive producer Katori Hall cited her an inspiration for the TV series, and credited her for "helping prepare the public" for its storyline.
Several artists have cited Cardi B's work as an inspiration, including Rosalía, Olivia Rodrigo, Jazmine Sullivan, Selena Gomez, Blackpink, Spice, Greta Gerwig, Nathy Peluso, Rubi Rose, María Becerra, and Abigail Asante. Cardi B has been credited for supporting and uniting female rappers in the industry, with a writer from Uproxx considering her co-sign "the new Drake effect" for women in hip hop.
== Achievements ==
Cardi B is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award, eight Billboard Music Awards (including three consecutive Top Rap Female Artist wins), eight Guinness World Records, six American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six BET Awards (including Album of the Year), and fourteen BET Hip Hop Awards. Invasion of Privacy—which made her the first female rapper to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a solo artist—became the first female rap album in fifteen years to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018. She received the ASCAP award for Songwriter of the Year in 2019, becoming the first female rapper to win the award. She received the honor for the second time in 2020, making her the first female songwriter to win the award twice. In 2020, Cardi B became the first female rapper to be named Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music Awards.
Cardi B is the female rapper with the most Billboard Hot 100 number one singles (5) and the one with the most total weeks on the top position (16). "I Like It" became the first song led by a female rapper to surpass a billion streams on Spotify, making her the first woman in hip hop with multiple billion-streamers on the service, and the female rapper with the second-most, with a total of four so far. With the singles "Taki Taki" and "WAP" she became the only female rapper to top the global Spotify chart multiple times. Since August 2020, "WAP" holds the record of the biggest first-week streams for a song in the United States. Invasion of Privacy was the top female rap album of the 2010s, according to the Billboard 200 decade-end chart. It became the longest-charting album by a female rapper on the Billboard 200, and the most-streamed female rap album on Spotify.
Cardi is the first female rapper with at least three Diamond-certified songs by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA): "Bodak Yellow", which made her the first female rapper to have a song certified Diamond; "Girls Like You", which made her the only female rapper to achieve multiple Diamond-certified songs; and "I Like It", a tie for the second-most among women artists. Cardi B has topped twice Pitchfork's annual list of best songs of the year (2017 and 2020). Billboard staff and Rolling Stone ranked her debut album number 13 and 34 on their critics' lists of the best albums of the 2010s respectively, both the highest rank for a female rapper for the decade. Cardi B has become the highest-certified female rapper of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking, with 69 million certified units, also being among the highest-certified female artists overall. In October 2022, five years after her major-label debut, she reached 100 million units sold in RIAA certifications, across her album, singles and guest appearances.
In the US, Cardi has achieved three times the best-performing song of the year by a female artist—the first act to do so this century—in 2017, 2018, and 2020. As of 2021, "I Like It" is the most-streamed song by a female rapper in the United Kingdom. In August 2021, "Bodak Yellow" made Cardi B the first female rapper to have two videos on her YouTube channel with more than 1 billion views, joining "I Like It", and became the fastest solo female rap song to reach that mark on the platform. She has the most-viewed music videos on YouTube, both as a solo act and feature, among female rappers ("Bodak Yellow"; "Girls Like You"). As of September 2024, she has one music video with over 3 billion views ("Girls Like You"); one video with over 2 billion views ("Taki Taki"); and three videos with over a billion views ("I Like It", "Bodak Yellow", "Girls Like You (Volume 2)") on YouTube. Cardi is the only female rapper ranked on Billboard's Greatest Hot 100 Hits of All Time, with "Girls Like You" at number 30.
Cardi B's sophomore studio album, Am I the Drama? (2025), achieved significant commercial and critical success upon its release. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning 200,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. This milestone made her the only female rapper in history to have her first two studio albums debut at the top of the chart. The project also set a record for the most charting songs by a female rapper in a single week on the Billboard Hot 100, with 18 tracks entering the tally simultaneously.
The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on its day of release, a feat attributed to the pre-release success of the singles "WAP" and "Up". By February 2026, the album had been certified double platinum, making it the highest-certified female rap album of the 2020s decade thus far.
== Personal life ==
Cardi B defined herself as a practicing Catholic.
In 2016, Cardi B said that when working as a stripper, she used to drug and rob men for their money. Following controversies on the matter, sparked in 2019, she defended herself, saying, "whether or not they were poor choices at the time, I did what I had to do to survive." She explains: "I never glorified the things I brought up in that live [video], I never even put those things in my music because I'm not proud of it and feel a responsibility not to glorify it. I made the choices that I did at the time because I had very limited options." In 2024, Cardi B spoke on the matter again, saying "Why do y'all keep writing 'Cardi drugged, whatever, robbed men,' other crap. So what? I'll do it again bitch. I don't give a fuck, I don't feel bad. I don't feel bad for no niggas. I'll do it the fuck again. And y'all think y'all gagging. I talk about that shit on my album too. I don't give a fuck."
She identifies as bisexual. In connection with the MeToo movement, she has discussed being sexually assaulted in the past while working as a stripper.
In a 2018 interview, Cardi B talked about being Afro-Latina and Afro-Caribbean:We are Caribbean people. [...] Some people want to decide if you're black or not, depending on your skin complexion, because they don't understand Caribbean people or our culture. [...] I don't got to tell you that I'm black. I expect you to know about it. When my father taught me about Caribbean countries, he told me that Europeans took over our lands. That's why we all speak different languages. [...] Just like everybody else, we came over here the same way. I hate when people try to take my roots from me. Because we know that there's African roots inside of us.
Rapper GloRilla is Cardi's biological first cousin (once removed) due to Glorilla's father being a half-sibling to one of Cardi's parents, but referred to her as her “half-niece”. Glorilla also confirmed they are cousins. Cardi B has also been involved in a widely publicized feud with rapper Nicki Minaj since around 2017.
=== Relationships ===
In early 2017, Cardi B began dating fellow rapper Offset. They became engaged on October 27, 2017. On April 7, 2018, during her second performance on Saturday Night Live, Cardi B revealed her pregnancy; she was about six months (24 weeks) pregnant at the time. On June 25, 2018, TMZ found a marriage license revealing Cardi B and Offset had actually secretly married in September 2017, one month before the public proposal. She later confirmed this in a social media post.
Cardi B gave birth to a daughter on July 10, 2018. In December 2018, she announced on Instagram that she and Offset had separated, though the pair later reunited. In February 2019, the couple made a public appearance for the Grammys. He accompanied her onstage during her acceptance speech for Best Rap Album.
In September 2020, it was reported that Cardi B had filed for divorce from Offset, but the following month it was revealed they were back together. In June 2021, Cardi B revealed she was pregnant with her second child, a boy. She gave birth to a son on September 4, 2021. On the fifth anniversary of her marriage, Cardi B announced she was planning her official wedding. In December 2023, Cardi shared via Instagram that she had been "single for a minute," confirming that she and Offset were no longer together. However, as of March 2024, the current status of their marriage became unclear as they were still working together, with Offset having directed a music video for Cardi B. In July 2024, Cardi officially filed for divorce from Offset. She announced her third pregnancy the day after. She gave birth to her third child, a daughter, on September 7, 2024.
In October 2024, Cardi was rumored to be in a relationship with NFL player Stefon Diggs. On June 1, 2025, she publicly confirmed her relationship with Diggs in an Instagram post with photos with them together. On September 17, 2025, in an interview with Gayle King, Cardi confirmed she was pregnant with her fourth child, also her first with Diggs. She gave birth to a son in November of that year. Cardi and Diggs split in 2026.
=== Legal issues ===
On October 1, 2018, Cardi B was accused of an alleged assault of two female bartenders. The victims claimed that Cardi B and her entourage "threw bottles and alcohol at them." She denied involvement. She was charged with two misdemeanors: assault and reckless endangerment. Cardi B appeared in court for her arraignment on December 7, 2018, after she did not show up for the originally scheduled date due to a scheduling conflict, according to her attorney. On June 21, 2019, a jury indicted Cardi B on 14 charges, including two counts of felony assault with intent to cause serious physical injury, stemming from the incident. She was arraigned on June 25, 2019, and pleaded not guilty on all charges. On September 15, 2022, she pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and second-degree reckless endangerment, resulting in a sentence of 15 days of community service.
On January 24, 2022, Cardi won a million-dollar defamation verdict against YouTuber Latasha Kebe (Tasha K) for waging a "malicious campaign" to hurt her reputation by posting false rumors. She stated that the lies had led her to contemplate suicide in 2019. The jury issued a verdict that Cardi B had been defamed and awarded $1.25 million in damages. Further proceedings brought the total fine against Kebe to $3.82 million.
On March 25, 2022, Cardi, her sister Hennessy, and Hennessy's girlfriend won a defamation lawsuit filed against them by three men over an incident at a Suffolk County beach.
In July 2023, Cardi B threw her microphone into the crowd at a Las Vegas concert of hers after a fan threw a liquid at her. Subsequently, one fan attempted to press charges but the Clark County Police Department following an investigation decided not to move forward with a case.
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Invasion of Privacy (2018)
Am I the Drama? (2025)
== Tours and residencies ==
Headlining tours
2019 Tour
Little Miss Drama Tour (2026)
Residencies
Cardi B at KAOS (2019)
== Filmography ==
=== Commercials === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makomanai_Open_Stadium | Makomanai Open Stadium | The Makomanai Sekisui Heim Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Sapporo, Japan. During the 1972 Winter Olympics, it hosted the opening ceremonies and the speed skating events. Located inside the Makomanai Park, the stadium holds 17,324 people.
Currently the stadium holds the speed skating Winter Annual National Competition, and until 2011 the Toyota Big Air snowboarding contest.
During summer it is used as tennis courts (up to eight at the same time) or futsal fields (up to two at the same time).
As of 2021, the Olympic cauldron is still seemingly mounted on the original 1972 plinth, just within the stadium's south east perimeter.
== Access ==
Namboku Line: 25 minutes walking distance from Makomanai Station. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Percent_for_the_Planet | One Percent for the Planet | One Percent for the Planet is an international organization whose members contribute at least one percent of their annual revenue to environmental causes to protect the environment. Founded by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies in 2002, the organization encourages "more businesses to donate 1% of sales to environmental groups".
Since its creation, the organization has been joined by countries around the world, with a great number of partners in France, Great Britain, Australia, and Japan. France is the only country to have an independent entity.
== Impact ==
Since its founding, the 1% for the Planet movement has directed substantial funding toward global environmental solutions. The organization reports that more than $728 million has been donated to approved environmental non-profits worldwide.
This funding is attributed to the following types of impact:
Policy and Advocacy: Supporting non-profits that have successfully mobilized to modify or prevent environmental legislation.
Conservation: Protection of threatened ecosystems and species.
Climate Resilience: Efforts to help local communities strengthen their resilience in the face of climate change and environmental disruptions.
The movement emphasizes that the non-profit partners it supports are experts in ecological issues and carry out targeted actions directly addressing the causes of environmental imbalances.
== Members ==
Surfclass.com became the first member in Jan 2002. Notable members of the organization include
Caudalie, a French cosmetics brand.
Cotopaxi, an outdoor apparel company.
Flickr, a photo-sharing service.
KeepCup, an Australian reusable cup brand.
Klean Kanteen, a producer of reusable stainless steel water bottles.
The Sunglass Fix, an Australian replacement lenses company.
New Belgium Brewing Company, a craft brewery.
OXO, a manufacturer of kitchen utensils and housewares.
Since 1985, Patagonia pledged 1% of sales to the preservation of restoration of the natural environment. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BoA#Discography | BoA#Discography | Kwon Bo-ah (Korean: 권보아; born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and actress often referred to as the "Queen of K-pop".
Born and raised in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, BoA was discovered by SM Entertainment talent agents when she accompanied her older brother, a music video director, to a talent search in 1998. She was trained for two years and made her debut with ID; Peace B (2000). BoA has since released twenty studio albums, including ten in Korean, nine in Japanese, and one in English. On television, she appeared as a judge on the reality competition show K-pop Star (2011–2013), as an actress on the television drama Listen to Love (2016), as a host for the second season of Produce 101 (2017), and as a coach for the third season of The Voice of Korea (2020).
With the release of her debut Japanese studio album, Listen to My Heart (2002), BoA became the first South Korean pop star to break through in Japan. Her Japanese albums Valenti (2003) and Best of Soul (2005) went on to sell over one million copies each according to Oricon; the latter of which remained the last album to do so by a non-Japanese artist for 16 years. Her self-titled English album (2009) became the first record by a K-pop artist to appear on the Billboard 200, debuting at number 127.
BoA has sold over ten million albums throughout her career and is one of only three female artists with six consecutive number-one studio albums on the Oricon Albums Chart since her debut, alongside Japanese singers Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada. She is the recipient of numerous awards in South Korea and Japan, including eight MAMA Awards, six SBS Music Awards, five Japan Record Awards, and five Japan Gold Disc Awards. In 2013, Mnet included her in their Legend 100 Artists list of the most influential artists in South Korea.
== Life and career ==
=== 2000–2003: Debut and commercial success in South Korea and Japan ===
Kwon Bo-ah was born on November 5, 1986. At the age of eleven, BoA accompanied her older brother Kwon Soon-wook to an SM Entertainment talent search in 1998. Though Soon-wook auditioned as a break-dancer, SM talent scouts instead took notice of BoA and offered her a contract on the same night as the auditions. BoA's parents initially opposed the notion of her leaving school to enter the entertainment business but eventually consented after being persuaded by her older brothers Soon-hwon and Soon-wook. She has said that her early influence as a singer was Seo Taiji.
BoA underwent two years of training (involving vocal, dance, English, and Japanese lessons), and at the age of thirteen she released her debut album ID; Peace B in South Korea on August 25, 2000. The album was moderately successful; it entered the Top 10 of the South Korean charts and sold around 156,000 units. Meanwhile, her Korean record label, SM Entertainment, made arrangements with Japanese label Avex Trax to launch her music career in Japan. She was forced to quit school to prepare and in early 2001, BoA released her first mini-album, Don't Start Now; it sold around 90,000 units. After its release, she took a hiatus from the Korean music industry to focus on the Japanese market at which time she worked to solidify her skills in Japanese.
BoA began her Japanese music career singing at the Avex-owned club Velfarre. Her debut Japanese album, Listen to My Heart, was released on March 13, 2002. The album was a breakthrough in BoA's career, becoming an RIAJ-certified million-seller and debuted atop the Oricon, the first album by a Korean artist to do so. It was promoted with several singles: the Top 20 hit "ID; Peace B" (originally from the eponymous album), "Amazing Kiss", "Kimochi wa Tsutawaru", the Top 5 hit "Listen to My Heart", and the Top 10 "Every Heart: Minna no Kimochi". After the September 11, 2001 attacks, BoA recorded the charity single "The Meaning of Peace" with Kumi Koda as part of Avex's Song Nation project to raise funds for charity. From 2001 to 2007, BoA hosted Beat it BoA's World, a radio program on the Japan FM Network.
After the release of Listen to My Heart, BoA released her second Korean studio album, No. 1, a month later on April 12, 2002. The album sold around 544,853 units and became the fourth-best-selling record of the year in South Korea. Jumping into the World (a Japanese re-release of the mini-album Don't Start Now) and the Japanese
BoA's second Japanese studio album, Valenti (January 2003), became her best-selling album, with over 1,249,000 copies sold. Three singles preceded its release: "Valenti", which peaked at the number-two position on the Oricon chart, "Kiseki / No.1" and "Jewel Song / Beside You: Boku o Yobu Koe", both which also peaked at the number-three position. In support of the album, BoA launched BoA 1st Live Tour Valenti, her first Japanese concert tour. Later in the same year, BoA released her third Korean-language studio album, Atlantis Princess on May 30, 2003, and then released a mini-album Shine We Are! on December 4, 2003. The former was the fifth-best-selling South Korean record of the year with around 345,000 units sold; the latter sold around 58,000 units.
=== 2004–2008: New image, foray into China, and creative control ===
Her third Japanese studio album, Love & Honesty (January 2004) was a musical "change in direction": it contained a rock-dance song ("Rock with You") and "harder" R&B. Though the album failed to match Valenti in sales, it topped the Oricon chart for two weeks and became RIAJ-certified triple-platinum. In support of the album, BoA held a tour, Live Concert Tour 2004: Love & Honesty, spanning nine performances and attracted approximately 105,000 attendants. In contrast with 1st Live Tour, which "emphasized exotic Asian design", the Love & Honesty tour had an "outer-space, sci-fi" theme; among the props were a three-storey-high space ship and the robot Asimo. Her first compilation album, Best of Soul (February 2005), however, sold over a million copies, making BoA the first non-Japanese Asian singer to have two million-selling albums in Japan. It remained the last album by a foreign artist to have sold over a million copies in Japan for 16 years, until BTS in 2021.
BoA reinvented her image for her fourth and fifth Korean albums, My Name (June 2004) and Girls on Top (June 2005), shedding the "cute" and "youthful" style that had characterized previous years and adopted a more "sexy" and "sultry" look. The sales of BoA's Korean albums began to decline: My Name sold 191,000 units and became the eleventh-best-selling South Korean album in 2004 while Girls on Top ranked fourteenth in 2005 with 113,000 units sold. In September 2004, BoA instigated controversy in Japan when she donated ₩50 million to a memorial project for Korean independence activist and nationalist An Jung-geun.
Her fourth Japanese studio album, Outgrow, (February 2006) reached the number-one spot on the Oricon chart for its first week of release, making it her fourth consecutive original Japanese album to do so. With 220,000 copies sold, it became her lowest-selling first-week debut for a studio album at that point. "Do the Motion", the first single from the album, reached the top spot, making her the fourth non-Japanese Asian to have a number-one single on the Oricon charts. "Merry Christmas from BoA" (2005), the album's last single, was the singer's first digital single. That May, BoA renewed her contract with SM Entertainment until 2012. At the time it was noted that she had a shareholding in the company of 100,000 (Approximately worth $1m USD). She performed "Everlasting", the image song for Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist (2005 film). She also voiced Heather the possum in the Korean and Japanese version of the animated film Over the Hedge. On September 21, 2006, she released her first digital single in Korea, a Korean version of "Key of Heart". In support of Outgrow, BoA launched a special Zepp tour, B0A The Live, on September 29, 2006, which lasted until October 29. She staged her first Christmas concert on December 7, 2006.
Three singles preceded BoA's fifth Japanese studio album, Made in Twenty (January 2007): the Top 3 "Nanairo no Ashita (Brand New Beat)/Your Color," the Top 10 "Key of Heart", and the No. 2 hit "Winter Love". The album, which contained R&B and dance songs as well as ballads, debuted at the top of the weekly Oricon charts, making the album her sixth in a row to do so (including one compilation). Having previously compose the song "No More Make Me Sick" for Made in Twenty, BoA assumed creative control over her sixth Japanese album, The Face (February 2008). The album debuted at the top of the weekly Oricon charts, making BoA one of only two artists in Japan to have six consecutive studio albums top the Oricon weekly charts (the other is Ayumi Hamasaki, who has eight consecutive number-one albums). On June 9, 2008, BoA and nine other artists from around the world recorded an English cover of Wei Wei's "Dedication of Love". Produced by Roald Hoffmann and Brian Alan, the single was used to raise funds for victims of the Sichuan earthquake. But due to a tight schedule, BoA was pulled back from this project. Korean jewelry brand Ramee also released, "Ramee by BoA", a line of jewelry designed by the singer herself.
=== 2008–2012: American expansion and return to Asia ===
On September 2, 2008, it was announced that BoA would make her American debut under a new subsidiary label, SM Entertainment USA. Hoping to become a "world-renowned entertainer" in the vein of Janet Jackson, BoA's debut American single "Eat You Up", was produced by Thomas Troelsen, and released on October 21, 2008. It charted at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. To promote the single, BoA performed "Eat You Up" as well as other songs at YouTube's Tokyo Live concert, and performed in New York City on December 3, 2008, as well as the Jingle Ball at the Anaheim Honda Center on December 6, 2008. The following year, she released "Eien/Universe/Believe in Love" and was also featured in Ravex's single "Believe in Love".
BoA's self-titled English album was released in the U.S. on March 17 and featured tracks by producers Bloodshy and Avant as well as a duet with Sean Garrett. Her second Japanese compilation album, Best & USA was released on March 18 tying together a compilation of recent hits in Japan with her English-language debut. Though she stated that "[i]t has always been my dream to debut in America," she found English tougher to learn than Japanese and despite living in West Beverly Hills, found it difficult to make friends. BoA later headlined the San Francisco Pride Festival on June 28, 2009, alongside Solange Knowles and The Cliks, where she also performed the song "Energetic" for the first time in public, in addition to "Eat You Up" and "I Did It for Love". On August 31, SM USA released BoA Deluxe, a repackaged version of her debut English album. The album contained two new tracks and the radio edit version of "Energetic".
With her U.S. career struggling to gain traction, BoA returned to East Asia to release her seventh Japanese album, Identity (February 2010). Promoted by the singles "Bump Bump!" featuring Verbal from M-Flo and "Mamoritai: White Wishes" (December 2009), the album only charted at No. 4, selling 37,606 copies in its first week. With little promotion from her label, it ended her run of six consecutive No. 1 albums, suggesting that it would be impossible for her to sustain her career in three territories simultaneously. Her first Korean album in five years, Hurricane Venus, was released on August 5, 2010, and sold 55,776 units making it the 22nd best selling album in South Korea for 2010. She also represented South Korea and performed at the 7th Asia Song Festival, organized by Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.
BoA made her Hollywood movie debut in the dance film Make Your Move 3D, playing the character Aya opposite Derek Hough. Although production ended in 2011, the film was released in 2013. The movie received mixed reviews, with Inkoo Kang of the Los Angeles Times praising the choreography but stating that "[w]henever actor Derek Hough and BoA stop leaping and twirling, [it] is an underwritten mess." To celebrate the 10th anniversary of her Japanese debut, BoA released "Milestone", which ranked at No. 4 on the Oricon Weekly Music-DVD charts. She also held her 10th anniversary concert from December 10 to 11 at Tokyo International Forum.
Following the concert, BoA shifted her activities to her native county, joining the judging panel on SBS's audition program K-pop Star as a representative of S.M. Entertainment, alongside Yang Hyun-suk from YG Entertainment and Park Jin-young from JYP Entertainment. BoA received praise for her ability as a judge with her insightful comments and discerning eyes, and also sang the theme song "One Dream". For her seventh Korean album, Only One (July 2012), BoA wrote and composed its title track, while its dance steps choreographed by NappyTabs, who has previously worked with BoA in Cobu. Upon its release, "Only One" achieved an all-kill on several music charts. She followed this up with the second "The Shadow", was released August 18, 2012. Additionally, she recorded the song "Lookin'" featuring The Quiett for Hyundai's 'Premium Younique Lifestyle' campaign.
=== 2013–2015: Music production, television role, and 15th anniversary ===
BoA launched her first Korean tour with BoA Special Live 2013: Here I Am tour at the Olympic Hall, and released the song "Disturbance", which she wrote and composed, to commemorate her first concert tour in South Korea. In September 2013, BoA starred in KBS' two-episode drama special Expect to Date alongside Choi Daniel and Yim Si-wan, her full first role in a drama, following a string of cameo appearances. She received praise for her acting performance. She also participated in Infinity Challenge's bi-annual song festival and was paired with Leessang's Gil, with the two co-produced the song "G.A.B". In March 2014, BoA was appointed as a de facto creative director in S.M. Entertainment, alongside labelmate Kangta; she was placed in charge of mental care of artists who debut at a young age.
The singles for BoA's eighth Japanese album, Who's Back? (September 2014), were released over a span of four years prior to the album's release:"Woo Weekend" and "I See Me" in 2010, "Milestone" in 2011, Only One", "Tail of Hope" and "Message / Call My Name" in 2013, and "Shout It Out" and "Masayume Chasing" in 2014. To promote the album, she embarked on her BoA Live Tour 2014 Who's Back? tour in September, her first Japanese tour in four years. After the tour concluded, BoA starred in her first Korean film, Big Match alongside Lee Jung-jae and Shin Ha-kyun though a Japanese single "Fly" was released on December 3, 2014.
Her eighth Korean album Kiss My Lips (May 2015) became her first entirely self-written, self-produced album, working alongside American producers The Underdogs and Stereotypes. The single "Who Are You" (feat. Gaeko) was released prior to the album's unveiling, along with its accompanying music video, which starred EXO's Sehun as the male lead. The rest of the album was unveiled on May 12 along with an official music video of the eponymous title track. Billboard called the singer a promising songwriter despite moments of musical blandness.
In July, she performed at the BoA Special Live 2015: Nowness to commemorate her 15th anniversary. The concert took place on August 22 and 23 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in South Korea, making BoA the first female idol to hold a solo concert at the venue. This was followed by BoA Special Live 2015: Nowness in Japan which took place on December 11, 2015, at Tokyo International Forum Hall-A. Her 15th anniversary in Japan the following year was celebrated in a similar fashion, including the release of the song "Lookbook", and a 15th anniversary edition of BoA's Japanese Winter hit, "Meri Kuri". As part of S.M. Entertainment's special winter project, Winter Garden, BoA released a digital single entitled "Christmas Paradise".
=== 2016–2025: Musical projects, television production, and acting debut ===
On January 12, 2016, BoA released an English-language single "Make Me Complete", which serves as the theme song for the Fuji TV special drama Ooku, starring Sawajiri Erika and Watanabe Mayu. In June, she collaborated with Korean rapper Beenzino for S.M. Entertainment's SM Station project. The duo released the single "No Matter What", which ranked atop five domestic charts. BoA worked with BeatBurger for another SM Station single titled "Music Is Wonderful", where she participated in the composing and writing of the track. From October to November 2016, BoA starred in JTBC's romance melodrama Listen to Love, returning to the small screen after three years.
The following year, BoA became one of the producers for Mnet's boy group survival reality show, Produce 101 Season 2, which aired from April 7 to June 16. BoA later released another song for SM Station, "Spring Rain", an R&B number produced by Kenzie. In May, BoA embarked on her BoA The live in Billboard Live Tour, held in Tokyo and Osaka. She also released the single "Camo," a dance song with a heavy emphasis on bass and synthesizer sounds, which was a change in sound from her previous materials and produced by The Underdogs. In July, she released the Japanese single "Right Here, Right Everywhere" for the soundtrack of drama Yaneura no Koibito. She later starred in the film Autumn Sonata alongside Lee Hak-joo, playing a terminally ill patient.
In 2018, BoA returned to Japan and released her ninth Japanese album Watashi Konomama de Iinokana on February 14, 2018, followed by EP Unchained in March. To accompany the release of the EP, she embarked on the BoA The Live 2018: Unchained Tour from March 15 to April 4. People who attend the concerts received a copy of Unchained. On January 31, she released "Nega Dola", which served as a single for BoA's then-upcoming first extended play. The EP, One Shot, Two Shot, was released on February 20, alongside its titular lead single and the song's music video. The EP peaked at number six at the South Korean Gaon Album Chart and number seven at the Billboard World Albums Chart. On October 24, she released her ninth Korean album Woman alongside a lead single of the same name. The album peaked at number six at the Gaon Album Chart, number eleven at the Billboard World Albums Chart.
On June 4, 2019, she released the single "Feedback", which features rapper Nucksal, alongside the song's music video. BoA embarked on her #Mood Tour, which had six dates in Japan and two dates in Seoul, from September to October 2019. On October 23, she released a new Japanese single, "Wishing Well", which she earlier debuted on the tour. On December 11, 2019, she released her second extended play Starry Night.
In May 2020, BoA was featured as one of the coaches for the third season of The Voice of Korea, alongside Dynamic Duo, Sung Si-kyung, and Kim Jong-kook. On December 1, 2020, she released her tenth Korean album Better. SpoTV News shared BoA to join as a judge for Mnet Dance program "Street Woman Fighter". It is a female dance crew competition premiering in August 2021. On November 5, 2021, BoA released the Japanese single, "My Dear", to commemorate her 20th anniversary.
BoA was revealed as a member of the supergroup Got the Beat on December 27, 2021. The group debuted on January 3, 2022. To celebrate her 20th anniversary, BoA released the Japanese compilation album The Greatest on May 30, 2022. On November 8, 2022, BoA announced her third EP Forgive Me along with the title track on the same name on November 22, 2022. In 2024, BoA appeared in the drama Marry My Husband, where she played Oh Yu-ra. Her performance in the drama was met with negative reviews.
On August 4, 2025, BoA released their eleventh studio album Crazier with the lead single of the same name.
=== 2026–present: One-man agency ===
On January 12, 2026, SM Entertainment announced that BoA's contract officially expired on December 31, and that she would be ending her 25-year tenure with the company.
On March 3, 2026, BoA announced that she established her own agency, BApal Entertainment, the meaning of "BoA" and "pal" (friend). This signifies the company's goal of being a company created by "BoA and Friends", or BoA and her fans, reflecting their commitment to building a structure that fosters closer connections between the artist and fans.
== Artistry ==
=== Influences ===
BoA lists hip hop as her main musical influence, though she also enjoys R&B. Her favorite musicians are Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, and Ne-Yo; as a result, much of BoA's music is either dance-pop or R&B. Because she also sings ballads, she is often compared to Japanese singers Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki.
=== Musical style ===
BoA's debut album, ID; Peace B, contained urban pop, "slickly produced" ballads, and "upbeat dance tunes". As her career went on, she began experimenting with different styles: Valenti contained mostly ballads; Love and Honesty was an experiment with "harder" R&B and rock music. Though her earlier releases were marked by a "cute" and "youthful" style, BoA began to present a more "mature" image starting from the album My Name. In a Talk Asia interview, Anjali Rao noted that some felt that My Name marked the beginning of BoA's decline in popularity and asked if the public would always see the singer as "Little Baby BoA"; BoA replied, "So while I apologize to those people who still want the baby BoA, in fact, what can I do? I just keep growing up! I can't stop that from happening."
The Face was influenced by electropop and included "happy spring" songs ("Sweet Impact" and "Bad Drive"), a guitar-driven "groovy dance" song ("Lose Your Mind"), and ballads. Because the composition and writing of BoA's songs is handled mostly by her staff, BoA has been criticized as being a "manufactured pop star". In response to such criticism, BoA said that "if one person were to force their own will on something, then things that should have gone right could easily go wrong" and that she is "not all that unhappy with the expression that [she is] a manufactured star. In a way, that is true. Because SM Entertainment created the environment and all the surrounding conditions, [she is] able to be successful in the way [she is] now." She later assumed creative control with The Face, while Kiss My Lips became her first entirely self-written, self-produced album.BoA has collaborated with high-profile artists. Among the Japanese artists she has performed with are the hip hop group M-Flo (for the single "The Love Bug"), pop singer Kumi Koda, and house DJ Mondo Grosso. She has performed with Western artists: the song "Flying Without Wings" from her album Next World was a collaboration with Irish band Westlife covering the original song; the Bratz single "Show Me What You Got" was performed with Howie D of the American band Backstreet Boys. She also worked with Akon, singing the song "Beautiful", which was featured on the Japanese release of his third album, Freedom. Other artists she has collaborated with are Soul'd Out, Dabo, Verbal (of M-Flo), Rah-D, Seamo, TVXQ, Yutaka Furakawa (of the band Doping Panda), and Crystal Kay (for her single "After Love: First Boyfriend/Girlfriend"). American rock band Weezer covered "Meri Kuri" on the Japanese version of their album Weezer.
== Cultural impact and legacy ==
BoA is regarded as one of South Korea's most influential singers and is widely referred to as the "Queen of K-pop", in recognition of her contributions in spearheading the Korean wave into Japan. BoA's success in the Japanese market has been deemed a catalyst in the Japanese interest in Korean pop music beginning in the early 2000s, when the two countries began promoting cultural exchanges since the end of World War II. Music critics have recognized BoA for improving "civil relations between the Korean and Japanese public through her music and appearances in Japanese radio and television", with Oxford Political Review noting "BoA's role in strengthening Japan-South Korea ties as a cultural envoy". In Alisa Freedman's Introducing Japanese Pop Culture, BoA was noted for "herald[ing] a new phase of Japanese engagement with Korean singers", registering "remarkable success during the first half of the 2000s in Japan". She highlighted that the timing of her success coincided with several political and cultural developments; these of which include the implementation of Korea's Open-Door Policy, the Korea Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the popularity of the drama series Winter Sonata. Freedman evaluated BoA's career path and localization strategies in Japan for having set "the first trend" of the Korean wave into the country.
Vox hailed BoA as "one of South Korea's best-known exports" in the years after her debut, while The Korea Times called BoA "the forerunner of the new generation of idols who popularized K-pop in Japan and elsewhere." In 2004, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism honored BoA with the Asian Cultural Exchange Merit Award for her contributions in raising the status of K-pop throughout Asia. Music critic Lim Jin-mo wrote that BoA "opened many doors for pop acts from her country in the second largest music market in the world", acting "as a figurehead for breakthroughs in Japan for South Korean acts" and became "a pivotal figure in K-pop's history". The Diplomat remarked that BoA "paved the way" for future K-pop artists "to later captivate Japanese fans despite souring relations between Seoul and Tokyo." Yim Hyun-su from The Korea Herald viewed her for "forever changing the landscape of South Korea's music industry". In 2016, she was honored with the Presidential Commendation at the Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards for her contributions to the spread of the Korean wave, and for laying "the foundation for the revival of K-pop".
In 2013, 50 music experts, professors and critics organized by Mnet named BoA one of the 100 most influential artists in South Korean music. "No. 1" was ranked number 27 in a 2006 Gallup Korea survey of 100 all-time favorite Korean songs and was included in Mnet's Legend 100 list of popular Korean songs since the 1960s. In 2021, a panel of 35 music experts organized by Melon and Seoul Shinmun ranked "No. 1" and "Atlantis Princess" number 1 and number 93 in their list of the greatest K-pop songs of all time. Critic Rhian Daly for The Forty-Five ranked "Atlantis Princess" number 1 in her list of the best K-pop songs of all time. Rolling Stone ranked "No. 1" at number 18 in their list of the greatest songs in the history of K-pop, writing it represents "her most emblematic crossover hit". In December 2023, it was included alongside "Gangnam Style" as part of the second induction into the Korea World Music Culture Hall of Fame.
BoA has been cited by many artists in the South Korean music industry as an influence and role model, including Aespa, Girls' Generation's Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Seohyun, Shinee's Key, Exo's Sehun, Red Velvet's Irene, Ailee, Chungha, Yukika Teramoto, Kwon Eun-bi, Baek A-yeon, Mamamoo's Solar, f(x)'s Luna, Kiss of Life's Natty, Lovelyz's Kei, and Billlie's Tsuki. Aespa's Giselle said in a Rolling Stone interview that "Everyone knows her. She's not just famous — she's a legend".
== Other ventures ==
=== Endorsements ===
Because of her wide appeal, BoA has appeared in advertisements for many brands. Among the brands she has promoted are Olympus, Lotte, Nike, L'Oréal, Japanese cosmetic company Kosé, Skechers, Audio-Technica, GM Daewoo and L'Occitane. Several of her songs have been used in affiliation with television shows. "Every Heart: Minna no Kimochi" was used as the ending theme for the anime InuYasha; "Beside You: Boku o Yobu Koe" was used as the opening theme for the anime Monkey Typhoon; "Key of Heart" is the theme song for the Japanese release of Over the Hedge; "Your Color" is the theme song of the video game Ninety-Nine Nights; "Mamoritai: White Wishes" is the theme song of the video game Tales of Graces. "Tail of Hope" was used as the theme for the Japanese drama Hakui no Namida, and "Masayume Chasing" was used as the 15th opening theme song for the anime Fairy Tail.
In 2007, Anycall (a Samsung brand) signed BoA, Xiah (of TVXQ), Tablo (of Epik High), and jazz pianist Jin Bora onto "Anyband", a band created specifically to promote Anycall. The band released only one single, "AnyBand". In December 2010, she recorded "I See Me" for to promote Audio Technica headphones in Japan. The song "Woo Weekend" was used to promote Disney on Ice's 25th Anniversary in Japan while "Lookbook" served as the ending theme for the NTV Kei program Tokui to Goto to Uruwashi no Shelley ga Konya Kurabete Mimashita. BoA served as ambassador for Asia Youth Day in 2014. In August 2017, it was announced that BoA was chosen as promotional ambassador for Jeju Biennale, an inaugural international art event on the resort island of Jeju. Her widespread popularity has also made her a "cultural ambassador"; she has represented South Korea in inter-Asian musical events and has appeared in an Oxford University Press-published English-language textbook.
== Discography ==
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television series ===
=== Television shows ===
== Concerts and tours ==
=== Concert participation ===
2002: SM China
2003: SMTOWN Smile Concert 2003
2007: 2007 SMTOWN Summer Concert
2008: SMTown Live '08
2009: BEST & USA Release Party: Thank Your For Your Support!
2010–11: SMTown Live '10 World Tour
2012–13: SMTown Live World Tour III
2014–2015: SM Town Live World Tour IV
2016: SM Town Live World Tour V
2017: SM Town Live World Tour VI
2022: SM Town Live 2022: SMCU Express at Kwangya
2022: SM Town Live 2022: SMCU Express
2023: SM Town Live 2023: SMCU Palace at Kwangya
2025: SM Town Live 2025: The Culture, the Future
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comedy_Store | The Comedy Store | The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
== History ==
The Comedy Store was opened in April 1972 by comedians Sammy Shore (1927–2019), and Rudy De Luca. The building was formerly the home of Club Seville (1935), later, Ciro's (1940–1957), a popular Hollywood nightclub owned by William Wilkerson, and later Ciro's Le Disc, a rock and roll venue, where the Byrds were discovered in 1964.
When the venue reopened as The Comedy Store in 1972, it included a 99-seat theatre. As a result of a divorce settlement, Sammy Shore's ex-wife Mitzi Shore began operating the club in 1973, and she was able to buy the building in 1976. She immediately renovated and expanded the club to include a 450-seat main room.
In 1974, The Comedy Store hosted the wedding reception of newlyweds Liza Minnelli and Jack Haley, Jr. The Comedy Club signage was covered, for the evening, by signs reading "Ciro's", denoting the venue's prior identity. The event was attended by many dozens of Hollywood glitterati, including Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr., Cher, Bob Fosse, Johnny Carson, Goldie Hawn, Cesar Romero, Priscilla Presley and other stars, past and present.
== Locations ==
The original Comedy Store on Sunset at Ciro's had been joined by the Comedy Store Westwood, at 1621 Westwood Blvd., the Comedy Store La Jolla, at 916 Pearl St., Comedy Store Playhouse, on Las Palmas, Comedy Store at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, in Universal City, and the Comedy Store Las Vegas at the Dunes Hotel.
== Job action ==
Beginning in 1979, The Comedy Store served for many years as the host location for the annual HBO Young Comedians specials.
Tension between the club owners stems from a 1979 strike of Los Angeles comedians against the Comedy Store's "no-pay policy". Until that time, neither Shore nor Friedman paid comedians a salary. The theory was that comedians should almost be paying the owners for the exposure the clubs provided. When the comedians' strike began, The Improv (opened in 1974 at 8162 Melrose Avenue) was closed for fire-damage repairs. Therefore, the strike focused on Shore, not Friedman.
Also in 1979, stand-up comedians formed a short-lived labor union and demanded to be paid for their appearances at The Comedy Store. For six weeks (beginning in March), several comedians staged a protest in front of the club, while others crossed the picket line. The comedians involved formed a union called Comedians for Compensation and fought for pay where they had received none before. They eventually picketed in front of the club when their demands were not met. Jay Leno and David Letterman were among those on the picket line while Garry Shandling and Yakov Smirnoff crossed the line.
The job action was not legally a strike as the comedians were classified as "independent contractors" and were not under contract with the club.
Mitzi Shore argued that the club was and had always been a showcase and training ground for young comedians and was not about profits. She alleged that comedians came to the club and could work on their material in front of casting agents and other talent scouts who would possibly hire them as professionals if they were good enough.
The comedians at the club became unhappy when the club was expanded several times and it was perceived that Shore's profits were quite substantial. Shore also paid the rest of her staff, including waitresses and bartenders.
After the strike, some comedians were no longer allowed to perform at the club, including Steve Lubetkin, who committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the Continental Hyatt House next door. His suicide note included the line: "My name is Steve Lubetkin. I used to work at The Comedy Store." Lubetkin hoped that his suicide would resolve the labor dispute. He also cited Shore as the reason he no longer had a job.
The union ceased to exist in 1980, although from the time of the job action onward, comedians in Los Angeles were paid for their shows. This included The Comedy Store and The Improv.
== Cresthill house ==
"When she and Sammy divorced in 1974, he gave her the club to lower his alimony payments; two years later, after being briefly evicted (and opening a new Comedy Store location in Westwood), she negotiated a deal to buy the entire building — plus Cresthill...around the time of Lubetkin’s suicide(After a bitter labor dispute between comedians and management), she essentially gave the place over to the comedians who worked at the Store."
Mitzi Shore also owned a 5,000-square-foot house a few doors away from the club, on 8420 Cresthill Road. The house was bought with the club in 1976. In 1979, she started to let the comedians from the clubs sleep there. During the 1980s, numerous comedians resided or just partied there, including Andrew Dice Clay, Marc Maron, Robin Williams, and Richard Pryor. Argus Hamilton and Mike Binder were the first to officially move into the house. Dave Coulier was also an early resident, and Yakov Smirnoff moved in in 1980. The place was known for its all-night parties and heavy consumption of cocaine and alcohol. Bill Hicks moved there in 1980 when he was 18 and running away from his parents to pursue his career as a comedian. Many of those comedians developed their style while residing there. Sam Kinison was a pillar there, and Jim Carrey turned his act around in this house. Mitzi Shore had a plan to cash in on the house's unique atmosphere, and even shot a 12-minute pilot around 1987 starring Daphne Davis, Nancy Redman, and Tamayo Otsuki. In 1988, because of the debauchery that had been going on for years, Mitzi Shore kicked everybody out of the house and turned it into a recovery house. By the early 1990s, Her son Pauly moved into the house, and by the end of the 1990s, the house was sold.
== Notable alumni ==
While many actors and comedians have performed at The Comedy Store, this list includes only notable alumni.
== Docu-series ==
A docu-series based on The Comedy Store debuted on Showtime in October 2020 called The Comedy Store.
Each episode is an hour long and breaks down a different time period throughout the existence of the Comedy Store. The director, Mike Binder goes on a podcast with a different comedian to set the tone and help provide the narrative of each episode.
=== Episodes === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rum | Red Rum | Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was an Irish champion Thoroughbred steeplechaser racehorse. He achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and also came second in the two intervening years, 1975 and 1976. The Grand National is a notoriously difficult race that has been described as "the ultimate test of a horse’s courage". He was also renowned for his jumping ability, having not fallen in 100 races.
The 1973 race in which Red Rum secured his comeback victory from 30 lengths behind is often considered one of the greatest Grand Nationals in history. In a 2002 UK poll, Red Rum's historic third triumph in the Grand National was voted the 24th greatest sporting moment of all time.
== Early life ==
Red Rum was bred at Rossenarra stud in Kells, County Kilkenny, Ireland, by Martyn McEnery. His sire was Quorum (1954–1971), and his dam Mared (1958–1976). Mared was a granddaughter of the broodmare Batika, whose other descendants have included the Irish 2000 Guineas winner Turtle Island. McEnery gave Red Rum his name by taking the last three letters of the names of his dam and sire, respectively. Bred to win one-mile races, Red Rum won his National titles over the longest distance, four miles and four furlongs. He started his career in England running in low-value races as a sprinter and dead-heated in his first race, a five-furlong flat race at Aintree Racecourse. He ran another seven times as a two-year-old, winning over 7f at Warwick, and over the same distance at Doncaster in the first of his two races as a three-year-old. In his early career, he was twice ridden by Lester Piggott. The comedian Lee Mack, then a stable boy, had his first riding lesson on Red Rum.
After moving between several training yards, he found his footing when Southport car dealer Ginger McCain bought him for client Noel le Mare and famously trained him on the sands at Southport, England. Galloping through sea water may have proved highly beneficial to Red Rum's hooves. McCain reportedly took Red Rum for a therapeutic swim in the sea off Southport before his first National appearances to help treat the horse's pedal osteitis, a debilitating, incurable bone disease in his hoof. McCain also won the Grand National in 2004 with Amberleigh House, 31 years after his first victory with Red Rum.
== Grand National record ==
At the 1973 Grand National, Red Rum beat the Australian chaser Crisp, which was carrying 23 pounds more, in a new record time of nine minutes, 1.9 seconds. Crisp led the field virtually all the way in that year's National in which he was 30 lengths clear, and at the last fence was 15 lengths clear of Red Rum, his nearest pursuer. Red Rum and jockey Brian Fletcher, however, made up the ground on the final stretch and, two strides from the finishing post, pipped the tiring Crisp to win by three-quarters of a length in what is often considered one of the greatest Grand Nationals in history. Crisp's jockey Richard Pitman later stated: "I still dream about that race, of Crisp running so strongly and jumping so fearlessly, and then the sound of Red Rum's hooves as he got closer and closer at the end." He added: "I felt as though I was tied to a railway line with an express train thundering up and being unable to jump out of the way." A year later, Red Rum retained his title at the 1974 National, carrying 12 stone. (He followed that with victory in the Scottish Grand National, and remains the only horse to win both in the same season.)
Red Rum came second in 1975 and 1976; Tommy Stack replaced Fletcher as jockey in the 1976 race after Fletcher angered trainer Ginger McCain by telling the press the horse no longer felt right after a defeat in a race away from Aintree. Again, Red Rum saved his best for Aintree but was held off by Rag Trade. The following year, Stack rode the 12-year-old Red Rum to his record third Grand National triumph, in what is regarded as one of the greatest moments in horse racing history.
== Retirement ==
Red Rum was prepared for a sixth attempt at the Grand National the season following his 1977 win, but suffered a hairline fracture in the lead up to the 1978 race. Following a canter at Aintree Racecourse the day before the 1978 Grand National he was retired. The news of Red Rum's retirement was the lead story on that night's Nine O'Clock News on BBC1 and was also front-page news of the following morning's newspapers.
Red Rum had become a national celebrity, opening supermarkets and annually leading the Grand National parade for many further years. His likeness graced playing cards, mugs, posters, models, paintings, plates and jigsaw puzzles. Several books have been written about Red Rum by his trainer, sculptor, jockeys and author Ivor Herbert; a children's story about his life was also written by Christine Pemberton. The horse helped open the Steeplechase rollercoaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1977. He also switched on the Blackpool Illuminations that year. In 1975, a song entitled "Red Rum" was issued as a tribute to him by a group named Chaser, on Polydor 2058 564. It was written by Steve Jolley, Richard Palmer and Tony Swain. In 2010 the name of the racecourse bar, formerly called "The Sefton", was changed to "The Red Rum".
In 1977 Red Rum appeared as a studio guest at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony. Viewers were delighted when the horse seemed to recognise the voice of his jockey Tommy Stack, who was appearing by video link from another location.
== Death and legacy ==
Red Rum died on 18 October 1995, aged 30. His death was one of the lead items in television news bulletins and also made the front pages of national newspapers the next day.
He was buried at the winning post of the Aintree Racecourse, which is still a destination for his fans. The epitaph reads
Respect this place
This hallowed ground
A legend here
His rest has found
His feet would fly
Our spirits soar
He earned our love
For evermore
Eleven years after his death, a survey found he remained the best-known racehorse in the UK. When asked to name an equine animal, Red Rum was named by 45% of Britons, with Black Beauty (from Anna Sewell's novel) in second with 33%. In 2002 the UK public voted Red Rum's third Grand National win #24 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
In the early 1970s, the future running of the Grand National was uncertain. The emergence of Red Rum and his historic triumphs captivated the nation, and ensured huge public support for the fund to buy Aintree and put it in the hands of the Jockey Club.
On 19 September 2011, Red Rum's trainer Ginger McCain died aged 80.
== Grand National record ==
== Commemorations ==
Red Rum Handicap Chase at Aintree.
There are statues of Red Rum at Aintree Racecourse, in Southport and at Ayr Racecourse.
Merseyrail named one of its trains in Red Rum's honour in 2008 as part of a Merseyside Legends programme.
There used to be two pubs named Red Rum.
One was next to Aintree Racecourse; it is now a tandoori restaurant.
One was in Croxteth, but closed some time in the mid-2000s and was demolished in 2010
Southport Fire Station took delivery of an engine they named Red Rum in 1979
Red Rum Drive in Ashburn, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. (part of the area referred to as the silicon valley of the east), is named after the famous racehorse, due to the land developer being an avid horse racing fan.
Red Rum Close in Fazakerley, Liverpool.
Market Rasen Racecourse have a Bar & Lounge named Red Rum
== Pedigree == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Jonas#Personal_life | Kevin Jonas#Personal life | Paul Kevin Jonas II (born November 5, 1987) is an American singer, musician, and actor. He rose to fame as the lead guitarist of the pop rock band Jonas Brothers alongside his younger brothers, singer-songwriters Joe and Nick Jonas. The three brothers became prominent figures on the Disney Channel in the late 2000s, gaining a large following through the network: they appeared in the widely successful musical television film, Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010) as well as two other series, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream (2008–2010) and Jonas (2009–2010).
After the Jonas Brothers confirmed a hiatus in 2012, Kevin appeared on his own E! reality series that same year, Married to Jonas, with his wife, Danielle Jonas. Following the band's initial break-up in 2013, he appeared on the seventh season of The Celebrity Apprentice in 2014, founded the construction company Jonas Werner, and became the co-CEO of The Blu Market, an influencer marketing company. In February 2019, the Jonas Brothers reunited and would go on to release their fifth studio album, Happiness Begins, that summer. The band members appeared in two Amazon Prime Video documentaries named Jonas Brothers: Chasing Happiness and Happiness Continues in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Kevin appeared on People magazine's list of the Sexiest Men Alive in 2008 at the age of 21. He therefore was included as part of its 21 Club. He released his debut solo single, "Changing" on November 20th 2025.
== Early life ==
Paul Kevin Jonas Jr. was born on November 5, 1987, in Teaneck, New Jersey, and grew up in Wyckoff. His mother, Denise Marie (née Miller), is a former sign language teacher and singer, and his father, Paul Kevin Jonas Sr., is a songwriter, musician, and former ordained minister at an Assemblies of God church. He has three younger brothers, Joe (b. 1989), Nick (b. 1992), and Franklin (b. 2000). As a child, Jonas appeared in several TV commercials as well as print ads. Unlike his brothers, he originally did not intend to become a musician but became interested one day after stumbling upon a book on playing guitar and playing his father’s guitar. He attended Eastern Christian High School in North Haledon, New Jersey.
== Career ==
=== 2005–2006: Career beginnings ===
In early 2005, Columbia Records' new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick's record. While Greenberg did not like the album, he did like Nick's voice. After hearing the song "Please Be Mine", written and performed by all the brothers, Daylight/Columbia Records decided to sign the three as a group act. After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name "Jonas Brothers". It's About Time, the brothers' first album, was released on August 8, 2006. According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of a little over 50,000 copies. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.
=== 2007–2012: Breakthrough with the Jonas Brothers ===
After shortly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, the brothers began appearing in Gap Inc. commercials for Baby Bottle Pop, singing the jingle. Their self-titled second album, Jonas Brothers, was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Jonas and his brothers guest-starred in an episode of Hannah Montana, titled "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas", which aired August 17, 2007 on Disney Channel. The episode debuted alongside the television film High School Musical 2 and a sneak peek of Phineas and Ferb. The episode broke basic cable records with a record 10.7 million viewers and became basic cable's most watched series telecast ever.
Jonas and his brothers also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, where they played a band called "Connect 3". Kevin played Jason, a guitarist; Nick played Nate, also a guitarist; and Joe played the lead male role and lead singer, Shane Gray. A soundtrack for the movie was released on June 17, 2008. The film premiered on June 20, 2008, on Disney Channel in the United States, on Disney Channel, and on Family in Canada. They returned in the sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, which premiered on September 3, 2010. The Disney Channel reality short series, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream, premiered on Disney Channel, May 16, 2008. The show, which ran until September 5, 2008, documented the brother's lives during the Look Me in the Eyes Tour. The name was inspired by their hit song When You Look Me in the Eyes. The series was renewed for a second season, which premiered March 21, 2010. The second season followed the band on the European leg of their World Tour 2009. The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, A Little Bit Longer, was released in the United States on August 12, 2008, and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Kevin, Joe, Nick, and Frankie starred in their own Disney Channel Original Series, Jonas, which premiered May 2, 2009. The show was renewed for a second season premiering June 20, 2010 as Jonas L.A. It centered on the brothers vacationing at their summer house in Los Angeles with Stella and Macy. On June 16, 2009, the brothers' fourth studio album, and third release under Hollywood Records, titled Lines, Vines, and Trying Times was released. The album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with 247,000 copies sold.
Jonas appeared on MTV's fourth episode of When I Was 17, talking about life as a teenager, regarding sports and his hairstyles. He guest hosted Live with Kelly, December 13, 2011, and did so a second time on July 4, 2012. It was announced on May 1, 2012, that the Jonas Brothers parted ways with their record label Hollywood Records, and bought the rights to their music.
=== 2013–2018: Jonas Brothers split ===
Kevin appeared in an E! reality series alongside his wife, Danielle, and his brothers, which premiered on August 19, 2012. Produced by Ryan Seacrest, Married to Jonas documented the young couple's domestic life as well as the brothers' recording efforts as they prepared to release their fifth studio album. The final episode of the second season aired on May 26, 2013. On October 29, 2013, The Jonas Brothers officially announced that the band was breaking up because of creative differences.
After parting ways with the Jonas Brothers in 2013, he founded the real estate development, construction company called JonasWerner, and is the co-CEO of The Blu Market company, which deals with communications and plans for social media influencers. Jonas was part of the seventh season of Celebrity Apprentice taping in spring 2014, which was filmed throughout New York City. He was fired in the second episode when his team lost the competition, during which time he'd been acting as the team leader. Kevin also made a cameo in a 2014 episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, working in his new role as contractor, leading the construction on Housewife Kathy Wakile's home.
In 2015, he created the food app Yood. As of 2016, he is also in partnership with the video-sharing app We Heart It.
=== 2019–present: Jonas Brothers reunion and Happiness Begins ===
On February 28, 2019, nearly six years after the Jonas Brothers' initial breakup, the brothers announced the band's reunion. They commenced their reunion the next day by releasing a new single, "Sucker" on March 1, 2019, and partaking in a week-long segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Jonas and his brothers appeared in the band's documentary Chasing Happiness, which was released on June 4, 2019. On May 9, 2019, a compilation album titled Music from Chasing Happiness was released. It consists of old Jonas Brothers songs, two Nick songs, one Joe song featuring a guest appearance from Lil Wayne, and a song from Joe's band DNCE. Directed by John Lloyd Taylor, the documentary covers the brothers' childhood, how they started as a band, why the band broke up, and how the band got back together.
They released their fifth studio album, Happiness Begins on June 7, 2019. It was the band's first album released after their reunion. They have released two songs with other artists: their feature on "Runaway" by Sebastián Yatra, Daddy Yankee, and Natti Natasha, as well as their collaboration on "Lonely" with Diplo. They released a song titled "Greenlight" for their episode of Songland the same day on June 18, three days before "Runaway". On November 8, they released a Christmas song, "Like It's Christmas". On January 17, 2020, they released the single "What a Man Gotta Do". Since July 11, 2022, Jonas has been co-hosting the reality competition series Claim to Fame on ABC alongside his brother, Franklin Jonas.
Jonas starred alongside his brothers in A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, which was released on Disney+ and Hulu on November 14, 2025, along with a soundtrack album. On November 20, 2025, Jonas released his debut solo single, "Changing". It was written by Jason Evigan and produced by Mark Schick.
== Personal life ==
Kevin Jonas lives in New Jersey with his wife, Danielle Jonas, and their two daughters.
Danielle is a former hairdresser with Ryan Rodgers Redken Ambassador, and the pair married at Oheka Castle on December 19, 2009, with his brothers Joe and Nick as his best men. The couple met while vacationing with their families in the Bahamas in May 2007. Their first daughter was born on February 2, 2014, and their second daughter was born on October 27, 2016.
In April 2021, Jonas showed support for the NGO GiveIndia during the worsening situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in India and urged fans to help donate to the organization to help.
In September 2021, Jonas and his wife Danielle announced the release of a book for children titled There's a Rock Concert in My Bedroom, which chronicles the story of Emma, a girl who is excited about participating in her school's talent show. The Jonases said the initiative was motivated by their daughters. It was released in April 2022.
In June 2024, Jonas shared that he was diagnosed with skin cancer after discovering a malignant mole on his forehead, in which had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his head.
== Discography ==
=== Singles ===
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Internet ===
=== Video games === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Jest#Adaptations | Infinite Jest#Adaptations | Infinite Jest is a 1996 novel by American writer David Foster Wallace. Categorized as an encyclopedic novel, Infinite Jest is featured in Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.
The novel has an unconventional narrative structure and includes hundreds of extensive endnotes, some with footnotes of their own.
A literary fiction bestseller after having sold 44,000 hardcover copies in its first year of publication, the novel has since sold more than a million copies worldwide.
== Development ==
Wallace began Infinite Jest, "or something like it", several times between 1986 and 1989. His efforts in 1991–92 were more productive; by the end of 1993, he had a working draft of the novel.
From early 1992 until the novel's publication, excerpts from various drafts appeared sporadically in magazines and literary journals including Harvard Review, Grand Street, Conjunctions, Review of Contemporary Fiction, Harper's Magazine, The Iowa Review, The New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
The book was edited by Michael Pietsch of Little, Brown and Company. Pietsch made suggestions and recommendations to Wallace, but every editing decision was Wallace's. He accepted cuts amounting to around 250 manuscript pages from his original submission. He resisted many changes for reasons that he usually explained.
The novel gets its name from Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1, in which Hamlet holds the skull of the court jester, Yorick, and says, "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!"
Wallace's working title for Infinite Jest was A Failed Entertainment.
== Setting ==
In the novel's future world, the United States, Canada, and Mexico together compose a unified North American superstate known as the Organization of North American Nations, or O.N.A.N. (an allusion to onanism). Corporations are allowed the opportunity to bid for and purchase naming rights for each calendar year, replacing traditional numerical designations with ostensibly honorary monikers bearing corporate names. Although the narrative is fragmented and spans several "named" years, most of the story takes place during "The Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment" (Y.D.A.U.).
On the orders of U.S. President Johnny Gentle (a germaphobic singer and politician who campaigned on the platform of cleaning up the U.S. while ensuring that no American would be caused any discomfort in the process), much of what used to be the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada has become a giant hazardous waste dump, an area "given" to Canada and known as the "Great Concavity" by Americans due to the resulting displacement of the border.
== Plot ==
There are several major interwoven narratives, including:
A fringe group of Québécois radicals, Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (lit. 'The Wheelchair Assassins'; A.F.R.), plan a violent coup to free Quebec from O.N.A.N.
Addicts living in Boston reach "rock bottom" with substance abuse before entering a residential drug and alcohol recovery program, Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House, where they progress in recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA).
Students train and study at the Enfield Tennis Academy (E.T.A.), founded by James Incandenza and now run by Avril Incandenza and Avril's adopted brother Charles Tavis.
The personal drama of the Incandenza family centers around Hal's struggles to live up to high expectations of academic and athletic success amid wider dysfunction.
These narratives are connected via a film, Infinite Jest, also called "the Entertainment" or "the samizdat". The film is so compelling that its viewers lose all interest in anything other than repeatedly viewing it, and thus eventually die. It was James Incandenza's final work. He completed it during a period of sobriety that was insisted upon by its lead actress, Joelle van Dyne. The Québécois separatists seek a replicable master copy of the work to aid in acts of terrorism against the United States. The United States Office of Unspecified Services (O.U.S.) aims to intercept the master copy to prevent mass dissemination and the destabilization of the Organization of North American Nations, or else to find or produce an anti-entertainment that can counter the film's effects. Joelle seeks treatment for substance abuse problems at Ennet House. A.F.R. member (and possible O.U.S. double agent) Rémy Marathe visits Ennet House, aiming to find Joelle and a lead to the master copy of "the Entertainment".
Wallace compared the novel's structure to a Sierpiński gasket, a type of fractal. He said the book's "chaos is more on the surface" and that it had a coherent structure despite its seemingly disjointed plot.
== Major characters ==
=== The Incandenza family ===
Hal Incandenza is the youngest of the Incandenza children and arguably the novel's protagonist, as its events revolve around his time at E.T.A. Hal is prodigiously intelligent and talented, but insecure about his abilities (and eventually his mental state). His friend Michael Pemulis calls him Inc, and his favorite thing to do is secretly smoke marijuana in the seclusion of the E.T.A. tunnels. He has difficult relationships with both his parents. He has an eidetic memory and has memorized the Oxford English Dictionary, and like his mother often corrects his friends' and family's grammar. Hal's mental degradation and alienation from those around him culminate in his chronologically last appearance in the novel, in which his attempts at speech and facial expressions are incomprehensible to others. The origin of Hal's final condition is unclear; possible causes include marijuana withdrawal, a drug obtained by Michael Pemulis, a patch of mold Hal ate as a child, and a mental breakdown from years of training to be a top junior tennis player.
Avril Incandenza, née Mondragon, is the domineering mother of the Incandenza children and wife of James. A tall (197 cm, or 6 ft. 5.5 in.), beautiful francophone Québécois, she becomes a major figure at Enfield Tennis Academy after her husband's suicide and begins, or perhaps continues, a relationship with Charles Tavis, the school's new head, also a Canadian and Avril's either adoptive or half-brother. Her sexual relationships with men are a matter of some speculation/discussion; one with John "No Relation" Wayne is depicted. Avril has phobias about uncleanliness and disease, closed doors, and overhead lighting, and is also described as agoraphobic. She has an obsessive-compulsive need to watch over E.T.A. and her two younger sons, Hal and Mario, who live at the school; Avril and Orin are no longer in contact. James Incandenza believes that he can connect with his children only through her. Orin believes she runs the family with ingrained manipulation and the illusion of choice. Her family nickname is "the Moms".
James Orin Incandenza Jr., Avril's husband and Orin's, Mario's and Hal's father, is an optics expert and filmmaker as well as the founder of Enfield Tennis Academy (though he increasingly leaves E.T.A. business to Charles Tavis). The son of small-time actor James O. Incandenza Sr. (who played "The Man from Glad" in the 1960s), James Jr. created Infinite Jest (also known as "the Entertainment" or "the samizdat"), an enigmatic and fatally seductive film that was his last work. He used Joelle van Dyne, his son Orin's strikingly beautiful girlfriend, in many of his films, including the fatal "Entertainment". He appears in the book mainly either in flashbacks or as a "wraith", having killed himself at the age of 54 by placing his head in a microwave oven. He is an alcoholic who drinks Wild Turkey whiskey. His family nickname is "Himself". Orin also calls him "the Mad Stork" or (once) "the Sad Stork".
Mario Incandenza is the Incandenzas' second son, although his biological father may be Charles Tavis. Severely deformed since birth—he is macrocephalic, homodontic, bradykinetic, and stands or walks at a 45-degree angle—as well as mentally "slow", he is nonetheless perennially cheerful and kind. He is also a budding auteur, having served as James's camera and directorial assistant and later inheriting the prodigious studio equipment and film lab his father built on the academy grounds. Somewhat surprisingly, he is an avid fan of Madame Psychosis's dark radio show, partly because he finds her voice familiar. Hal, though younger, acts like a supportive older brother to Mario, whom Hal calls "Booboo".
Orin Incandenza is the Incandenzas' eldest son. He is a punter for the Phoenix Cardinals and a serial womanizer, and is estranged from everyone in his family except Hal. It is suggested that Orin lost his attraction to Joelle after she became disfigured when her mother unintentionally threw acid in her face during a Thanksgiving dinner, but Orin cites Joelle's questionable relationship with his father as the reason for the breakup even though he later admits he knows there was no romance. Orin focuses his subsequent womanizing on young mothers; Hal suggests that this is because he blames his father's death on his mother. Molly Notkin, a friend of Joelle's, says that Orin has numerous "malcathected issues with his mother". Orin's relationship with his father was tense. His father tells Joelle "he simply didn't know how to speak with either of his undamaged sons without their mother's presence and mediation. Orin could not be made to shut up."
=== The Enfield Tennis Academy ===
Michael Pemulis, a working-class teenager from an Allston, Massachusetts family, and Hal's best friend. A prankster and the school's resident drug dealer, Pemulis is also very proficient in mathematics. This, combined with his limited but ultraprecise lobbing, made him the school's first master of Eschaton, a computer-aided turn-based nuclear wargame that requires players to be adept at both game theory and lobbing tennis balls at targets. Although the novel takes place long after Pemulis's Eschaton days (the game is played by 12- to 14-year-olds), Pemulis is still regarded as the game's all-time greatest player, and he remains the final court of appeal for the game. His brother, Matty, is a gay hustler who as a child was sexually abused by their father.
John "No Relation" Wayne, the top-ranked player at E.T.A. He is frighteningly efficient, controlled, and machine-like on the court. Wayne is almost never directly quoted in the narrative; his statements are either summarized by the narrator or repeated by other characters. His Canadian citizenship has been revoked since he came to E.T.A. His father is a sick asbestos miner in Quebec who hopes John will soon start earning "serious $" in "the Show" (professional tennis) to "take him away from all this". Pemulis discovers Wayne is having a sexual relationship with Avril Incandenza, and it is later revealed that Hal is also aware of the relationship. Wayne may be sympathetic to, or actively supporting, the radical Quebec separatists.
Ortho "The Darkness" Stice, another of Hal's close friends. His name consists of the Greek root ortho ("straight") and the anglicized suffix -stice ("a space") from the noun interstice, which originally derived from the Latin verb sistere ("to stand"). He endorses only brands that have black-colored products, and is at all times clothed entirely in black, hence his nickname. Late in the book Stice nearly defeats Hal in a three-set tennis match, shortly after which his forehead is frozen to a window and his bed appears either bolted or mysteriously levitated to the ceiling. There are indications that Stice is being visited by the ghost of James Incandenza.
Lyle, E.T.A. weight room guru. He spends most of his time perched atop the towel dispenser in the lotus position. Lyle licks the sweat off the boys' bodies after they work out and in turn gives them life advice. His behavior is described by the narrator as unusual but "nothing faggy". Lyle is close to Mario, whom he sometimes employs to speak to players who struggle with self-esteem.
=== Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House ===
Don Gately, a former thief and Demerol addict, and current counselor in residence at Ennet House. One of the novel's primary characters, Gately is physically enormous and a reluctant but dedicated Alcoholics Anonymous member. He is critically wounded in an altercation with several Canadian men, and much of the later part of the novel involves his inner monologue while he recuperates in a Boston hospital. Gately had a complicated childhood. His stepfather abused his mother. During his middle-school and high-school years, Gately's size made him a formidable football talent. During his period as an addict and burglar, he accidentally kills M. DuPlessis, a leader of one of the many separatist Québécois organizations featured in the novel. Gately is visited by the ghosts of James O. Incandenza and Lyle.
Joelle van Dyne, also known as "Madame Psychosis" (cf. metempsychosis), a stage name she received from James Incandenza when she starred in his films (and later her on-air name in her radio show "60+/−"). She became acquainted with James through her college relationship with Orin Incandenza, who referred to her as "The Prettiest Girl of All Time", or P.G.O.A.T. She appears in the lethally addictive Entertainment, reaching down toward a wobbly "neonatal" lens as if it were in a bassinet and apologizing profusely, her face blurred beyond recognition. Extremely beautiful as a young woman, Joelle later becomes a member of the Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed (U.H.I.D.), and wears a veil to hide her face. According to Molly Notkin, Joelle's face was disfigured by a beaker of acid her mother threw, intending to hit Joelle's father, who had just revealed he was in love with her (Joelle). Joelle says she wears the veil because her superlative attractiveness plagued her throughout her life, causing her to suffer social and romantic isolation until she met Orin. Joelle tries to "eliminate her own map" (that is, suicide) in Notkin's bathroom by massive ingestion of freebase cocaine, which lands her in Ennet House as a resident. Gately and Joelle develop a mutual attraction.
Randy Lenz, a "small-time organic-coke dealer who wears sportcoats rolled up over his parlor-tanned forearms and is always checking his pulse on the inside of his wrists". An Ennet House resident, he constantly asks the time but refuses to wear a watch and regularly violates the sobriety rule.
Geoffrey Day, an Ennet House resident who struggles with the clichés of AA. He comes to Ennet House after putting his car through a sporting-goods store window.
=== Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents ===
Les Assassins des Fauteuils Rollents (A.F.R.), the Wheelchair Assassins, are a Québécois separatist group. (The use of "rollents" where "roulants" would be correct is in keeping with other erroneous French words and phrases in the novel.) They are one of many such groups that developed after the United States coerced Canada and Mexico into joining the Organization of North American Nations (O.N.A.N.), but the A.F.R. is the most deadly and extremist. While other separatist groups are willing to settle for nationhood, the A.F.R. wants Canada to secede from O.N.A.N. and to reject the United States' forced gift of its polluted "Great Concavity" (or, Hal and Orin speculate, is pretending that those are its goals to put pressure on Canada to let Quebec secede). The A.F.R. seeks the master copy of Infinite Jest as a terrorist weapon to achieve its goals. The A.F.R. has its roots in a childhood game in which miners' sons would line up alongside a train track and compete to be the last to jump across the path of an oncoming train, a game in which many were killed or rendered legless (the group's wheelchair-using members all lost their legs in this way).
Only one miner's son ever (disgracefully) failed to jump—Bernard Wayne, who may be related to E.T.A.'s John Wayne. Québécoise Avril's liaisons with John Wayne, and with A.F.R.'s Guillaume DuPlessis and Luria Perec, suggest that Avril may have ties to the A.F.R. as well. There is also evidence linking E.T.A. prorector Thierry Poutrincourt to the group.
Rémy Marathe is a member of the Wheelchair Assassins who secretly talks to Hugh/Helen Steeply. Marathe is a quadruple agent: the A.F.R. thinks that he is a triple agent, only pretending to betray the A.F.R., while Marathe and Steeply know that he only pretends to pretend to betray them. He does this in order to secure medical support for his wife (who was born without a skull) from the Office of Unspecified Services. Late in the novel, Marathe is sent to infiltrate Ennet House in the guise of a Swiss drug addict.
=== Other recurring characters ===
These characters cross between the major narrative threads:
Hugh Steeply, an agent who assumes a female identity ("Helen") for an operative role, with whom Orin Incandenza becomes obsessed. Hugh works for the government Office of Unspecified Services and has gone undercover to get information out of Orin about the Entertainment. He is the U.S.O.U.S.'s contact with the A.F.R. mole Marathe.
"Poor Tony" Krause, a cross-dressing junkie and thief who steals a woman's exterior heart, causing her death, and later robs Ennet House residents.
Marlon Bain, a former E.T.A. student who was close to Orin. His obsessive-compulsive disorder has made it nearly impossible for him to leave his apartment. Steeply contacts him for information about Orin and the Incandenzas.
== Style ==
Infinite Jest is a postmodern encyclopedic novel, famous for its length, detail, and digressions involving 388 endnotes, some of which themselves have footnotes. It has also been called metamodernist and hysterical realist. Wallace's "encyclopedic display of knowledge" incorporates media theory, linguistics, film studies, sport, addiction, science, and issues of national identity. The book is often humorous yet explores melancholy deeply. The novel's narration mostly alternates between third-person limited and omniscient points of view, but also includes several first-person accounts.
Eschewing chronological plot development and straightforward resolution—a concern often mentioned in reviews—the novel supports a wide range of readings. At various times Wallace said that he intended for the novel's plot to resolve, but indirectly; responding to his editor's concerns about the lack of resolution, he said "the answers all [exist], but just past the last page". Long after publication Wallace maintained this position, stating that the novel "does resolve, but it resolves ... outside of the right frame of the picture. You can get a pretty good idea, I think, of what happens". Critical reviews and a reader's guide have provided insight, but Stephen Burn notes that Wallace privately conceded to Jonathan Franzen that "the story can't fully be made sense of".
In an interview with Charlie Rose, Wallace characterized the novel's heavy use of endnotes as a method of disrupting the linearity of the text while maintaining some sense of narrative cohesion. In a separate interview on Michael Silverblatt's radio show Bookworm, Wallace said the plotting and notes had a fractal structure modeled after the Sierpiński gasket.
English critic James Wood called the novel an exemplar of "hysterical realism", a term he also applied to works by Zadie Smith, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. He criticized these novelists for seeking to "turn fiction into social theory" and as "evasive of reality".
== Themes ==
The novel touches on many topics, including addiction (to drugs, sex, and fame), withdrawal, recovery, twelve-step programs, death, family relationships, absent or dead parents, mental health, suicide, sadness, entertainment, film theory, media theory, linguistics, science, Quebec separatism, national identity, and tennis as a metaphysical activity.
The book's various plot threads, including Hal's struggle to succeed in a competitive academic and athletic environment, Gately's recovery from addiction, and the film Infinite Jest as an all-consuming form of entertainment, are tied together by an overarching theme of addiction and devotion. Conversations between Marathe, a double agent betraying the Quebecois separatist movement for the sake of his wife, and Steeply, an American agent and Marathe's contact, serve as a chorus for the story, with interludes where the two discuss the nature of entertainment and worship in American culture. A form of addiction or devotion is central to nearly every character's life; literary critic Paul Curtis argues that addiction, "however abnormal, is the norm of the novel."
Worship and addiction remained a central theme of Wallace's work. In his 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College, he said: "Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship".
== Literary connections ==
Infinite Jest draws explicitly or allusively on many previous works of literature.
As its title implies, the novel is in part based on the play Hamlet. Enfield Tennis Academy corresponds to Denmark, ruled by James (King Hamlet) and Avril (Queen Gertrude). When James dies, he is replaced by Charles (Claudius), the uncle of Avril's gifted son Hal (Prince Hamlet). As in the play, the son's task is to fight incipient mental breakdown in order to redeem his father's reputation.
Another link is to the Odyssey, wherein the son Telemachus (Hal) has to grow apart from his dominating mother Penelope (Avril) and discover the truth about his absent father Odysseus (James). (That pattern is also reproduced in the novel Ulysses, set in a realistic version of Dublin populated by a wide range of inhabitants, just as Infinite Jest is mostly in a realistic Boston with a varied population.) In one scene, Hal, on the phone with Orin, says that clipping his toenails into a wastebasket "now seems like an exercise in telemachry." Orin then asks whether Hal meant telemetry. Christopher Bartlett has argued that Hal's mistake is a direct reference to Telemachus, who for the first four books of the Odyssey believes that his father is dead.
Links to The Brothers Karamazov have been analyzed by Timothy Jacobs, who sees Orin representing the nihilistic Dmitri, Hal standing for Ivan and Mario the simple and good Alyosha.
The film so entertaining that its viewers lose interest in anything else has been likened to the Monty Python sketch "The Funniest Joke in the World", as well as to "the experience machine", a thought experiment by Robert Nozick.
== Critical reception ==
Infinite Jest was marketed heavily, and the publicity, which included a 10-city book tour and numerous interviews for Wallace, forced him to adapt to being a public figure. The publisher, Little, Brown, credited the book's success to this campaign, which included a series of cryptic teaser postcards to 4,000 people, announcing a novel of "infinite pleasure" and "infinite style". Rolling Stone sent reporter David Lipsky to follow Wallace on his "triumphant" book tour—the first time the magazine had sent a reporter to profile a young author in 10 years. The interview was never published in the magazine but became Lipsky's New York Times-bestselling book Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself (2010), of which the 2015 movie The End of the Tour is an adaptation.
Early reviews contributed to Infinite Jest's hype, many of them describing it as a momentous literary event.
In the Review of Contemporary Fiction, Steven Moore called the book "a profound study of the postmodern condition". In 2004, Chad Harbach wrote that, in retrospect, Infinite Jest "now looks like the central American novel of the past thirty years, a dense star for lesser work to orbit".
In a 2008 retrospective, The New York Times called the book "a masterpiece that's also a monster—nearly 1,100 pages of mind-blowing inventiveness and disarming sweetness. Its size and complexity make it forbidding and esoteric."
Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.
As Wallace's magnum opus, Infinite Jest was viewed as the center of the new discipline of "Wallace Studies", which, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, "... is on its way to becoming a robust scholarly enterprise."
Not all critics were as laudatory. Some early reviews, such as Michiko Kakutani's in The New York Times, were mixed, recognizing the inventiveness of the writing but criticizing the length and plot. She called the novel "a vast, encyclopedic compendium of whatever seems to have crossed Wallace's mind." In the London Review of Books, Dale Peck wrote of the novel, "... it is, in a word, terrible. Other words I might use include bloated, boring, gratuitous, and—perhaps especially—uncontrolled." Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, called it "just awful" and written with "no discernible talent" (in the novel, Bloom's own work is called "turgid"). In a 2000 review of Wallace's work to date, A. O. Scott, writing for the New York Review of Books, said "[T]he novel's Pynchonesque elements...feel rather willed and secondhand. They are impressive in the manner of a precocious child's performance at a dinner party, and, in the same way, ultimately irritating: they seem motivated, mostly, by a desire to show off."
Some critics subsequently qualified their initial stances. In 2008, A. O. Scott, writing for Slate, called Infinite Jest an "enormous, zeitgeist-gobbling novel that set his generation's benchmark for literary ambition" and Wallace "the best mind of his generation". In 2018, James Wood said that he regrets his negative review: "I wish I'd slowed down a bit more with David Foster Wallace." Infinite Jest is one of the recommendations in Kakutani's book Ex Libris: 100 Books to Read and Reread.
== Adaptations ==
Playwright Ken Campbell worked on an adaptation of Infinite Jest for the Millennium. His concept was to have 1,000 performers who each paid $23 to take part in the event, which would last a week. It did not come to fruition. German theatrical company Hebbel am Ufer produced a 24-hour avant-garde open-air theatre adaptation in 2012.
Infinite Jest was adapted in Finnish for radio and broadcast in six episodes by Yle in January 2023.
== In popular culture ==
The Parks and Recreation episode "Partridge" contains various references to the novel. For example, Ann and Chris take the "Incandenza-Pemulis Parenting Compatibility Quiz", and Ann's fertility counselor, Dr. Van Dyne, works at the C.T. Tavis Medical Center.
The video for The Decemberists' "Calamity Song" recreates the novel's Eschaton chapter.
The music video for MC Lars and Wheatus's "Finite Jest" recounts the plot of Wallace's novel from Hal's perspective, recreating scenes from the book.
The Infinite Summer project, an online book group with the goal of reading Infinite Jest over a single summer, took place in 2009. It included daily commentary from well-known writers, musicians and media personalities.
The rock band We Are the Fury named its 2006 EP Infinite Jest after the novel.
The hardcore punk band Fury named its album Failed Entertainment after the novel's working title.
The indie pop rock band The 1975's song title "Surrounded by Heads and Bodies" was inspired by the novel's opening line. The band's lead singer, Matty Healy, was reading the book while in rehab.
== Translations ==
Infinite Jest has been translated:
Blumenbach, Ulrich (2009). Unendlicher Spaß (in German). Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch. ISBN 978-3-462-04112-5.
In 2010, Blumenbach received the Leipzig Book Fair Prize and the Kurd Laßwitz Award for the translation.
Nesi, Edoardo; Villoresi, Annalisa; Giua, Grazia (2000). Infinite Jest (in Italian). Roma: Fandango Libri. ISBN 978-88-87517-10-1.
Telles de Menezes, Salvato; Teles de Menezes, Vasco (2012). A Piada Infinita (in Portuguese). Quetzal. ISBN 978-989-722-063-0.
Covián, Marcelo; Calvo, Javier (2002). La broma infinita (in Spanish). Barcelona: Mondadori. ISBN 978-84-397-0236-8.
Galindo, Caetano W. (2014). Graça Infinita (in Brazilian Portuguese). Companhia das Letras. ISBN 978-85-3592-504-3.
Kerline, Francis (2015). L'infinie comédie (in French). Éditions de l'Olivier. ISBN 978-28-7929-982-2.
Kemény, Lili; Sipos, Balázs (2018). Végtelen tréfa (in Hungarian). Jelenkor Kiadó. ISBN 978-9-636-76614-6.
Polyarinov, Alexey; Karpov, Sergey (2018). Бесконечная Шутка (in Russian). AST. ISBN 978-5-17-096355-3.
Valkonen, Tero (2020). Päättymätön riemu (in Finnish). Siltala / Sanavalinta. ISBN 978-952-234-653-7.
In 2021, Valkonen was awarded the Mikael Agricola Prize.
Kozak, Jolanta (2022). Niewyczerpany żart (in Polish). Wydawnictwo W.A.B. ISBN 978-83-83180-26-7.
Književnost, Svetska; Naslovi, Novi (2022). Beskrajna Lakrdija (in Serbian). Kontrast. ISBN 9788660361655.
Yu, Bingxia (2023). 无尽的玩笑 (in Chinese (China)). 上海人民出版社 (Shanghai People's Publishing House). ISBN 9787208161757.
Sapir, Michal (2023). "מהתלה אינסופית" (in Hebrew). Hakibutz Hameuchad.
Farrokhi, Moeen (2024). "مزاح-بیپایان" (in Persian). Borj.
Henkes, Robbert-Jan (2026). “Eindeloos vertier” (in Dutch). Uitgeverij Koppernik. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Perry_discography | Katy Perry discography | The American singer Katy Perry has released seven studio albums, one reissue, seven extended plays (EP), 42 singles (including four as featured artist), and 13 promotional singles. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Perry is the thirteenth top digital singles artist in the United States, with 121.5 million digital singles and 19 million album units. As of July 2024, she has a total of seven RIAA Diamond-certified records. Billboard listed Perry as the fourth top female artist of the 2010s decade (eighth overall) and the 61st greatest artist of all time. She has scored three number one albums on US Billboard 200 and nine number one songs on US Billboard Hot 100. Throughout her career, Perry has sold over 151 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Her discography has garnered more than 125 billion cumulative streams from various digital and streaming platforms as of November 2025.
At age 16, she released a self-titled gospel album in March 2001 under her real name Katy Hudson, which failed to chart in any music market. After Perry signed with Capitol Records in April 2007, she released her second album, One of the Boys, in June 2008. Its singles "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold" both topped charts in Austria, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland, and have been certified eight-times and six-times Platinum by the RIAA. The album peaked within the top ten in the United States, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Throughout 2009 and 2010, Perry was featured on two singles. The first was on Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk", and the second was a collaboration with Timbaland on "If We Ever Meet Again", from his album Shock Value II. Both singles reached the top ten in Australia and the United Kingdom, while the latter topped the charts in New Zealand. Perry also performed for MTV Unplugged and a live album of the performance was released in November 2009.
Perry's third studio album Teenage Dream was released in August 2010 and topped the charts in the United States, Australia, Austria, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. When its singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" topped the Billboard Hot 100, Perry became the first woman and only the second artist after Michael Jackson to attain five number-one singles in the United States from one album. The album was re-released in March 2012 as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. Its singles "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake" both reached number one in Canada and New Zealand. Her fourth studio album Prism was released in October 2013. Prism became an international success, reaching number one in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Its singles "Roar" and "Dark Horse" both topped the charts in the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, "Roar" also became Perry's best-selling song, with 2.8 million units sold, and her most-streamed song, with over 218 million streams. She subsequently released an anthem for the 2016 Summer Olympics titled "Rise", which debuted at number one in Australia.
Perry's fifth album Witness followed in June 2017. It topped the charts in the United States and Canada. That year, she was also featured on Calvin Harris's song "Feels" from his album Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 along with Big Sean and Pharrell Williams, which reached number one in the United Kingdom. In 2018, she released the Christmas single "Cozy Little Christmas". This was followed by the release of the collaborations "365" (with Zedd) and "Con Calma" (remix, with Daddy Yankee and Snow). She released the non-album singles "Never Really Over", "Small Talk" and "Harleys in Hawaii" in 2019. Smile and 143 respectively followed as her sixth and seventh albums in August 2020 and September 2024. Both reached the top 10 of the album charts in the United States, Australia, Austria, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
== Albums ==
=== Studio albums ===
=== Reissues ===
== Extended plays ==
== Box sets ==
== Singles ==
=== As lead artist ===
==== 2000s ====
==== 2010s ====
==== 2020s ====
=== As featured artist ===
=== Promotional singles ===
== Other charted or certified songs ==
=== 2000s ===
=== 2010s ===
=== 2020s ===
== Footnotes ==
=== Notes for albums and songs ===
=== Notes for peak chart positions === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco | Monaco | Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate in Western Europe. Situated on the French Riviera, it is a semi-enclave bordered by France to the north, east, and west, with the Mediterranean Sea to the south; the Italian region of Liguria is about 15 km (9.3 mi) east. With a population of 38,423 living in an area of 2.08 km2 (0.80 sq mi), Monaco is the second smallest sovereign state in the world, after Vatican City, as well as the most densely populated. It also has the world's shortest national coastline of any non-landlocked nation, at 3.83 km (2.38 mi). Fewer than 10,000 of its residents are Monégasque nationals. Although French is the official language of Monaco, Italian and Monégasque are also widely spoken and understood.
Monaco is governed under a form of semi-constitutional monarchy, with Prince Albert II as head of state, who holds substantial political powers. The prime minister, who is the head of government, can be either a Monégasque or French citizen; the monarch consults with the Government of France before an appointment. Key members of the judiciary are detached French magistrates. The House of Grimaldi has ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, since 1297. The state's sovereignty was officially recognised by the Franco-Monégasque Treaty of 1861, with Monaco becoming a full United Nations voting member in 1993. Despite Monaco's independence and separate foreign policy, its defence is the responsibility of France, notwithstanding two small military units.
Monaco is recognised as one of the wealthiest and most expensive places in the world. Its economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with the opening of the state's first casino, the Monte Carlo Casino, and a rail connection to Paris. The country's mild climate, scenery, and gambling facilities contributed to its status as a tourist destination and recreation centre for the wealthy. Monaco has become a major banking centre and sought to diversify into the services sector and small, high-value-added, non-polluting industries. Monaco is a tax haven; it has no personal income tax (except for French citizens) and low business taxes. Over 30% of residents are millionaires, with real estate prices reaching €100,000 ($116,374) per square metre in 2018. Monaco is a global hub of money laundering, and in June 2024 the Financial Action Task Force placed Monaco under increased monitoring to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Monaco is among the 46 Member States which constitute the Council of Europe. It is not part of the European Union (EU), but participates in certain EU policies, including customs and border controls. Through its relationship with France, Monaco uses the euro as its sole currency. Monaco joined the Council of Europe in 2004 and is a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). It hosts the annual motor race, the Monaco Grand Prix, one of the original Grands Prix of Formula One. The local motorsports association gives its name to the Monte Carlo Rally, hosted in January in the French Alps. The principality has a club football team, AS Monaco, which competes in French Ligue 1 and has been French champions on multiple occasions, as well as a basketball team, which plays in the EuroLeague. Monaco is a centre of marine conservation and research, being home to one of the world's first protected marine habitats, an Oceanographic Museum, and the International Atomic Energy Agency Marine Environment Laboratories, the only marine laboratory in the UN system.
== History ==
Monaco was first mentioned by the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, who referred to it as "Monoikos, a Ligurian town". Strabo referred to it as Monoikon limen, explaining that Monoikos (Greek for "the solitary one") was another name for Heracles, who had a temple here; it is possible, however, that it is an alteration of an older Ligurian name.
In 1191, the Holy Roman Empire granted Monaco to the Genoese in return for cracking down on pirates. By the early 1200s, the Genoese had built a castle on the rock and were utilizing the port. An ousted branch of a Genoese family, the Grimaldis, captured it in 1297 by posing as monks, but then had to contest it for a century before gaining official control. Though the Republic of Genoa would last until the 19th century, it allowed the Grimaldi family to keep Monaco. Likewise, both France and Spain left it alone for hundreds of years due to agreements with either of them, especially for defense. France annexed it in the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, but after the defeat of Napoleon it was put under the care of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
In the 19th century, when Sardinia became a part of Italy, the region came under French influence but France allowed it to remain independent and it escaped being incorporated into Italy. However, it shrank considerably when it traded two nearby towns in exchange for sovereignty from France. Monaco relied on tourism from the late 19th century to remain financially solvent, and it was at this time the famous casino and hotels were established. Monaco was overrun by the Axis powers in the 1940s during the Second World War and for a short time was administered by Italy, then Nazi Germany, before being liberated. Although the occupation lasted for just a short time, it resulted in the deportation of the Jewish population and execution of several French Resistance members from Monaco. Since then Monaco has been independent. It has taken some steps towards integration with the European Union.
=== Arrival of the Grimaldi family ===
Following a grant of land from Emperor Henry VI in 1191, Monaco was refounded in 1215 as a colony of Genoa. Monaco was first ruled by a member of the House of Grimaldi in 1297, when Francesco Grimaldi, known as "Malizia" (translated from Italian either as "The Malicious One" or "The Cunning One"), and his men captured the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco while dressed as Franciscan friars – a monaco in Italian – although this is a coincidence as the area was already known by this name.
Francesco was evicted a few years later by the Genoese forces, and the struggle over "the Rock" continued for another century. The Grimaldi family was Genoese and the struggle was something of a family feud. The Genoese engaged in other conflicts, and in the late 1300s Genoa lost Monaco after fighting the Crown of Aragon over Corsica. Aragon eventually became part of a united Spain, and other parts of the land grant came to be integrated piecemeal into other states. Between 1346 and 1355, Monaco annexed the towns of Menton and Roquebrune, increasing its territory by almost ten times.
=== 1400–1800 ===
In 1419, the Grimaldi family purchased Monaco from the Crown of Aragon and became the official and undisputed rulers of "the Rock of Monaco". In 1612, Honoré II began to style himself "Prince" of Monaco. In the 1630s, he sought French protection against the Spanish forces and, in 1642, was received at the court of Louis XIII as a "duc et pair étranger".
The princes of Monaco became vassals of the French kings while at the same time remaining sovereign princes. Though successive princes and their families spent most of their lives in Paris, and intermarried with French and Italian nobilities, the House of Grimaldi is of Genoese origin. The principality continued its existence as a protectorate of France until the French Revolution.
=== 19th century ===
In 1793, Revolutionary forces captured Monaco and until 1814 it was occupied by the French (in this period much of Europe had been overrun by the French armies under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte). The principality was reestablished in 1814 under the Grimaldis. It was designated a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Monaco remained in this position until 1860 when, by the Treaty of Turin, the Sardinian forces pulled out of the principality; the surrounding County of Nice (as well as Savoy) was ceded to France. Monaco became a French protectorate once again. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it was replaced by French.
Before this time there was unrest in Menton and Roquebrune, where the townspeople had become weary of heavy taxation by the Grimaldi family. They declared their independence as the Free Cities of Menton and Roquebrune, hoping for annexation by Sardinia. France protested. The unrest continued until Charles III of Monaco gave up his claim to the two mainland towns (some 95% of the principality at the time) that had been ruled by the Grimaldi family for over 500 years.
These were ceded to France in return for 4,100,000 francs. The transfer and Monaco's sovereignty were recognised by the Franco-Monégasque Treaty of 1861. In 1869, the principality stopped collecting income tax from its residents — an indulgence the Grimaldi family could afford to entertain thanks solely to the extraordinary success of the casino. This made Monaco a playground for the rich and a favoured place for them to live.
=== 20th century ===
Until the Monégasque Revolution of 1910 forced the adoption of the 1911 Constitution of Monaco, the princes of Monaco were absolute rulers. The new constitution slightly reduced the autocratic rule of the Grimaldi family and Prince Albert I suspended it during the First World War.
In July 1918, a new Franco-Monégasque Treaty was signed, providing for limited French protection over Monaco. The treaty, endorsed in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles, established that Monégasque international policy would be aligned with French political, military and economic interests. It also resolved the Monaco succession crisis.
In 1943, the Italian Army invaded and occupied Monaco, forming a fascist administration. In September 1943, after Mussolini's fall from power, the German Wehrmacht occupied Italy and Monaco, and the Nazi deportation of the Jewish population began. René Blum, the prominent French Jew who founded the Ballet de l'Opéra in Monte Carlo, was arrested in his Paris home and held in the Drancy deportation camp outside the French capital before being transported to Auschwitz, where he was later murdered. Blum's colleague Raoul Gunsbourg, the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, helped by the French Resistance, escaped arrest and fled to Switzerland. In August 1944, the Germans executed René Borghini, Joseph-Henri Lajoux and Esther Poggio, who were Resistance leaders.
Rainier III, succeeded to the throne on the death of his grandfather, Prince Louis II, in 1949, and ruled until 2005. On 19 April 1956, Prince Rainier married the American actress Grace Kelly, an event that was widely televised and covered in the popular press, focusing the world's attention on the tiny principality.
A 1962 amendment to the constitution abolished capital punishment, provided for women's suffrage and established a Supreme Court of Monaco to guarantee fundamental liberties. In 1963, a crisis developed when Charles de Gaulle blockaded Monaco, angered by its status as a tax haven for wealthy French citizens.
In 1993, the Principality of Monaco became a member of the United Nations, with full voting rights.
=== 21st century ===
In 2002, a new treaty between France and Monaco specified that, should there be no heirs to carry on the Grimaldi dynasty, the principality would still remain an independent nation rather than revert to France. Monaco's military defense is still the responsibility of France.
On 31 March 2005, Rainier III, who was too ill to exercise his duties, relinquished them to his only son and heir, Albert. He died six days later, after a reign of 56 years, with his son succeeding him as Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Following a period of official mourning, Prince Albert II formally assumed the princely crown on 12 July 2005, in a celebration that began with a solemn Mass at Saint Nicholas Cathedral, where his father had been buried three months earlier. His accession to the Monégasque throne was a two-step event with a further ceremony, drawing heads of state for an elaborate reception, held on 18 November 2005, at the historic Prince's Palace in Monaco-Ville. On 27 August 2015, Albert II apologised for Monaco's role during World War II in facilitating the deportation of a total of 90 Jews and resistance fighters, of whom only nine survived. "We committed the irreparable in handing over to the neighbouring authorities women, men and a child who had taken refuge with us to escape the persecutions they had suffered in France," Albert said at a ceremony in which a monument to the victims was unveiled at the Monaco cemetery. "In distress, they came specifically to take shelter with us, thinking they would find neutrality."
In 2015, Monaco unanimously approved a modest land reclamation expansion intended primarily to accommodate desperately needed housing and a small green/park area. Monaco had previously considered an expansion in 2008, but had called it off. The plan is for about six hectares (15 acres) of apartment buildings, parks, shops and offices to a land value of about 1 billion euros. The development will be adjacent to the Larvotto district and also will include a small marina. There were four main proposals, and the final mix of use will be finalised as the development progresses. The name for the new district is Anse du Portier.
On 29 February 2020, Monaco announced its first case of COVID-19, a man who was admitted to the Princess Grace Hospital Centre then transferred to Nice University Hospital in France.
On 3 September 2020, the first Monégasque satellite, OSM-1 CICERO, was launched into space from French Guiana aboard a Vega rocket. The satellite was built in Monaco by Orbital Solutions Monaco.
== Geography ==
Monaco is a sovereign city-state, with five quarters and ten wards, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. It is bordered by France's Alpes-Maritimes department on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Its centre is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy and only 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of Nice.
It has an area of 2.1 km2 (0.81 sq mi), or 208 ha (510 acres), and a population of 38,400, making Monaco the second-smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. The country has a land border of only 5.47 km (3.40 mi), a coastline of 3.83 km (2.38 mi), a maritime claim that extends 22.2 km (13.8 mi), and a width that varies between 1,700 and 349 m (5,577 and 1,145 ft).
Jurassic limestone is a prominent bedrock which is locally karstified. It hosts the Grotte de l'Observatoire, which has been open to the public since 1946.
The highest point in the country is at the access to the Patio Palace residential building on the Chemin des Révoires (ward Jardin Exotique) from the D6007 (Moyenne Corniche street) at 164.4 m (539 ft) above sea level. The lowest point in the country is the Mediterranean Sea.
Saint-Jean brook is the longest flowing body of water, around 0.19 km (190 m; 0.12 mi; 620 ft) in length, and Fontvieille is the largest lake, approximately 0.5 ha (1.2 acres) in area. Monaco's most populated quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated ward is Larvotto.
With the inauguration of Le Portier in 2024, Monaco's total area grew to 2.08 km2 (0.80 sq mi) or 208 ha (510 acres); subsequently, new plans were approved to extend the district of Fontvieille by 0.08 km2 (0.031 sq mi) or 8 ha (20 acres), with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea. Land reclamation projects include extending the district of Fontvieille. There are two ports in Monaco, Port Hercules and Port Fontvieille. There is a neighbouring French port called Cap d'Ail that is near Monaco. Monaco's only natural resource is fishing; with almost the entire country being an urban area, Monaco lacks any sort of commercial agriculture industry.
A small residential expansion, Le Portier was opened in 2024, and additionally a new esplanade was added at Larvatto beach which also had some maintenance.
Many neighbourhoods are shared between Monaco, the immediately uphill French town of Beausoleil, the northeast parts of Cap-d'Ail, and the Figuièra area in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, forming a transborder agglomeration with approximately 55,000 residents.
=== Climate ===
Monaco has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), with strong maritime influences, with some resemblances to the humid subtropical climate (Cfa). As a result, it has balmy warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The winters are very mild considering the city's latitude, being as mild as locations located much further south in the Mediterranean Basin. Cool and rainy interludes can interrupt the dry summer season, the average length of which is also shorter. Summer afternoons are infrequently hot (indeed, temperatures greater than 30 °C or 86 °F are rare) as the atmosphere is temperate because of constant sea breezes. On the other hand, the nights are very mild, due to the fairly high temperature of the sea in summer. Generally, temperatures do not drop below 20 °C (68 °F) in this season. In the winter, frosts and snowfalls are extremely rare and generally occur once or twice every ten years. On 27 February 2018, both Monaco and Monte Carlo experienced snowfall.
== Government and politics ==
=== Politics ===
Monaco has been governed under a constitutional monarchy since 1911, with the Sovereign Prince of Monaco as head of state. The executive branch consists of a Minister of State as the head of government, who presides over the other five members of the Council of Government. Until 2002, the Minister of State was a French citizen appointed by the prince from among candidates proposed by the Government of France; since a constitutional amendment in 2002, the Minister of State can be French or Monégasque. Since July 2025, the office is held by Christophe Mirmand.
Under the 1962 Constitution of Monaco, the prince shares his veto power with the unicameral National Council. The 24 members of the National Council are elected for five-year terms; 16 are chosen through a majority electoral system and 8 by proportional representation. All legislation requires the approval of the National Council. Following the 2023 Monegasque general election, all 24 seats are held by the pro-monarchist Monegasque National Union. The election system has often resulted in lopsided victories in terms of seats won by parties, well out of proportion with the received votes: In the 2013 Monegasque general election, the Horizon Monaco and Union Monegasque parties got 50.34% and 38.99% of the votes respectively, but got 20 and 3 seats each. Freedom House ranked Monaco 60th of 207 countries in 2024, deducting many points for having both an unelected political head of state and an unelected head of government.
The principality's city affairs are managed by the Municipality of Monaco. The municipality is directed by the Communal Council, which consists of 14 elected members and is presided over by a mayor. Georges Marsan has been mayor since 2003. Unlike the National Council, communal councillors are elected for four-year terms and are strictly non-partisan; oppositions inside the council frequently form.
Members of the judiciary of Monaco are appointed by the Sovereign Prince. Key positions within the judiciary are held by French magistrates, proposed by the Government of France. Monaco currently has three examining magistrates.
=== Administrative divisions ===
Monaco is the second-smallest country by area in the world; only Vatican City is smaller. Monaco is the most densely populated country in the world. The state consists of only one municipality (commune), the Municipality of Monaco. There is no geographical distinction between the State and City of Monaco, although responsibilities of the government (state-level) and of the municipality (city-level) are different. According to the constitution of 1911, the principality was subdivided into three municipalities:
Monaco-Ville, the old city and seat of government of the principality on a rocky promontory extending into the Mediterranean, known as the Rock of Monaco, or simply "The Rock";
Monte Carlo, the principal residential and resort area with the Monte Carlo Casino in the east and northeast;
La Condamine, the southwestern section including the port area, Port Hercules.
The municipalities were merged into one in 1917, and they were accorded the status of Wards or Quartiers thereafter.
Fontvieille was added as a fourth ward, a newly constructed area claimed from the sea in the 1970s;
Moneghetti became the fifth ward, created from part of La Condamine;
Larvotto became the sixth ward, created from part of Monte Carlo;
La Rousse/Saint Roman (including Le Ténao) became the seventh ward, also created from part of Monte Carlo.
Subsequently, three additional wards were created, but then again were dissolved in 2013:
Saint Michel, created from part of Monte Carlo;
La Colle, created from part of La Condamine;
Les Révoires, also created from part of La Condamine.
Most of Saint Michel became part of Monte Carlo again in 2013. La Colle and Les Révoires were merged the same year as part of a redistricting process, where they became part of the larger Jardin Exotique ward. An additional ward was planned by new land reclamation to be settled beginning in 2014 but Prince Albert II announced in his 2009 New Year Speech that he had ended plans due to the economic climate at the time. Prince Albert II in mid-2010 firmly restarted the programme.
==== Traditional quarters and modern geographic areas ====
The four traditional quartiers of Monaco are Monaco-Ville, La Condamine, Monte Carlo and Fontvieille. The suburb of Moneghetti, the high-level part of La Condamine, is generally seen today as an effective fifth Quartier of Monaco, having a very distinct atmosphere and topography when compared with low-level La Condamine.
==== Wards ====
For town planning purposes, a sovereign ordinance in 1966 divided the principality into reserved sectors, "whose current character must be preserved", and wards. The number and boundaries of these sectors and wards have been modified several times. The latest division dates from 2013 and created two reserved sectors and seven wards. A new 6-hectare neighbourhood, Le Portier, has been built by land reclaimed from the sea and was opened in December 2024. It was attached to the ward of Larvotto.
Note: for statistical purposes, the Wards of Monaco are further subdivided into 178 city blocks (îlots), which are comparable to the census blocks in the United States.
Another possibility was Fontvieille II Development to commence in 2013
=== Foreign relations ===
Honoré II, Prince of Monaco secured recognition of his independent sovereignty from Spain in 1633, and then from Louis XIII of France by the Treaty of Péronne (1641). Monaco made a special agreement with France in 1963 in which French customs laws apply in Monaco and its territorial waters. Monaco uses the euro but is not a member of the European Union. Monaco shares a 6 km (3.7 mi) border with France but also has about 2 km (1.2 mi) of coastline with the Mediterranean sea. Two important agreements that support Monaco's independence from France include the Franco-Monégasque Treaty of 1861 and the French Treaty of 1918 (see also Kingdom of Sardinia). The United States CIA Factbook records 1419 as the year of Monaco's independence.
France and Italy have embassies within Monaco, while most other nations represented via operations in Paris. There are about another 30 or so consulates. By the 21st century Monaco maintained embassies in Belgium (Brussels), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), the Vatican, Italy (Rome), Portugal (Lisbon), Spain (Madrid), Switzerland (Bern), United Kingdom (London) and the United States (Washington).
As of 2000, nearly two-thirds of the residents of Monaco were foreigners. In 2015, the immigrant population was estimated at 60% It is reported to be difficult to gain citizenship in Monaco, or at least in relative number there are not many people who do so. In 2015, an immigration rate of about 4 people per 1,000 was noted, or about 100–150 people a year. The population of Monaco went from 35,000 in 2008 to 36,000 in 2013, and of that about 20 per cent were native Monegasque (see also Nationality law of Monaco).
A recurring issue Monaco encounters with other countries is the attempt by foreign nationals to use Monaco to avoid paying taxes in their own country. Monaco actually collects a number of taxes including a 20% VAT and 33% on companies unless they make over 75% of their income inside Monaco. Monaco does not allow dual citizenship but does have multiple paths to citizenship including by declaration and naturalisation. In many cases the key issue for obtaining citizenship, rather than attaining residency in Monaco, is the person's ties to their departure country. For example, French citizens must still pay taxes to France even if they live full-time in Monaco unless they resided in the country before 1962 for at least 5 years. In the early 1960s there was some tension between France and Monaco over taxation.
There are no border formalities entering or leaving France. For visitors, a souvenir passport stamp is available on request at Monaco's tourist office. This is located on the far side of the gardens that face the Casino.
==== Twin cities ====
Monaco's twin cities are:
=== Security and military ===
The wider defence of the nation is provided by France. Monaco has no navy or air force, but on both a per-capita and per-area basis, Monaco has one of the largest police forces (515 police officers for about 38,000 people) and police presences in the world. Its police includes a special unit which operates patrol and surveillance boats jointly with the military. Police forces in Monaco are commanded by a French officer.
There is also a small military force. This consists of a bodyguard unit for the prince and his palace in Monaco-Ville called the Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince (Prince's Company of Carabiniers); together with the militarised, armed fire and civil defence corps (Sapeurs-Pompiers) it forms Monaco's total forces. The Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince was created by Prince Honoré IV in 1817 for the protection of the principality and the princely family. The company numbers exactly 116 officers and men; while the non-commissioned officers and soldiers are local, the officers have generally served in the French Army. In addition to their guard duties as described, the carabiniers patrol the principality's beaches and coastal waters.
== Economy ==
Monaco has the world's highest nominal GDP per capita at US$185,742, PPP-adjusted GDP per capita at $132,571 and GNI per capita at $183,150. It has an unemployment rate of 2%, with over 48,000 workers who commute from France and Italy each day. According to the CIA World Factbook, Monaco has the world's lowest poverty rate and the highest number of millionaires and billionaires per capita in the world. For the fourth year in a row, Monaco in 2012 had the world's most expensive real estate market, at $58,300 per square metre. Although the average price went down in 2020, to an average price of $53,378 per square metre, Monaco remains one of the most expensive places in the world to buy property. By 2024, Monaco allows Visa-free travel from 86 countries around the world.
The world's most expensive apartment is located in Monaco, a penthouse at the Odeon Tower valued at $335 million according to Forbes in 2016.
The state retains monopolies in numerous sectors, including tobacco and the postal service. The telephone network (Monaco Telecom) used to be fully owned by the state. Its monopoly now comprises only 45%, while the remaining 55% is owned by Cable & Wireless Communications (49%) and Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (6%). Living standards are high, roughly comparable to those in prosperous French metropolitan areas.
Monaco is not a member of the European Union, but is very closely linked via a customs union with France. As such, its currency is the same as that of France, the euro. Before 2002, Monaco minted its own coinage, the Monégasque franc. Monaco has acquired the right to mint euro coins with Monegasque designs on its national side.
Monaco has become a major banking centre, holding over €100 billion worth of funds. Banks in Monaco specialise in providing private banking, asset and wealth management services. The principality has successfully sought to diversify its economic base into services and small, high-value-added, non-polluting industries, such as cosmetics.
=== Tourism ===
One of Monaco's main sources of income is tourism. Each year many foreigners are attracted to its casinos and pleasant climate. In 2022 there were about 300,000 international tourist arrivals. Monaco is the only place in Europe where credit card points are not redeemable. Hotel points are not able to be accumulated nor are transactions recorded, allowing for an increase in privacy that is sought by many of the locals.
=== Gambling industry ===
The plan for casino gambling was drafted during the reign of Florestan I in 1846. Under Louis-Philippe's petite-bourgeois regime a dignitary such as the Prince of Monaco was not allowed to operate a gambling house. All this changed in the dissolute Second French Empire under Napoleon III. The House of Grimaldi was in dire need of money.
The towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which had been the main sources of income for the Grimaldi family for centuries, were now accustomed to a much-improved standard of living and lenient taxation thanks to the Sardinian intervention and clamoured for financial and political concession, even for separation. The Grimaldi family hoped the newly legal industry would help alleviate the difficulties they faced, above all the crushing debt the family had incurred, but Monaco's first casino would not be ready to operate until after Charles III assumed the throne in 1856.
The grantee of the princely concession (licence) was unable to attract enough business to sustain the operation and, after relocating the casino several times, sold the concession to French casino magnates François and Louis Blanc for 1.7 million francs.
The Blancs had already set up a highly successful casino (in fact the largest in Europe) in Bad-Homburg in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Homburg, a small German principality comparable to Monaco, and quickly petitioned Charles III to rename a depressed seaside area known as "Les Spelugues (Den of Thieves)" to "Monte Carlo (Mount Charles)." They then constructed their casino in the newly dubbed "Monte Carlo" and cleared out the area's less-than-savoury elements to make the neighbourhood surrounding the establishment more conducive to tourism.
The Blancs opened Le Grand Casino de Monte Carlo in 1858 and the casino benefited from the tourist traffic the newly built French railway system created. Due to the combination of the casino and the railroads, Monaco finally recovered from the previous half-century of economic slump and the principality's success attracted other businesses. In the years following the casino's opening, Monaco founded its Oceanographic Museum and the Monte Carlo Opera House, 46 hotels were built and the number of jewellers operating in Monaco increased by nearly five-fold. In an apparent effort not to overtax citizens, it was decreed that the Monégasque citizens were prohibited from entering the casino unless they were employees. By 1869, the casino was making such a vast sum of money that the principality could afford to end tax collection from the Monegasques—a masterstroke that was to attract affluent residents from all over Europe in a policy that still exists today.
Today, Société des bains de mer de Monaco, which owns Le Grand Casino, still operates in the original building that the Blancs constructed and has since been joined by several other casinos, including the Le Casino Café de Paris, the Monte Carlo Sporting Club & Casino and the Sun Casino. The most recent addition in Monte Carlo is the Monte Carlo Bay Casino, which sits on 4 hectares of the Mediterranean Sea; among other things, it offers 145 slot machines, all equipped with "ticket-in, ticket-out" (TITO). It is the first Mediterranean casino to use this technology.
=== Low taxes ===
Monaco has a 20% VAT plus high social-insurance taxes, payable by both employers and employees. The employers' contributions are between 28% and 40% (averaging 35%) of gross salary, including benefits, and employees pay a further 10% to 14% (averaging 13%).
Monaco has never levied income tax on individuals, and foreigners are thus able to use it as a "tax haven" from their own country's high taxes, because as an independent country, Monaco is not obliged to pay taxes to other countries.
The absence of a personal income tax has attracted many wealthy "tax refugee" residents from European countries, who derive the majority of their income from activity outside Monaco. Celebrities, such as Formula One drivers, attract most of the attention but the vast majority are lesser-known business people.
Per a bilateral treaty with France, French citizens who reside in Monaco must still pay income and wealth taxes to France. The principality also actively discourages the registration of foreign corporations, charging a 33 per cent corporation tax on profits unless they can show that at least three-quarters of turnover is generated within Monaco. Unlike classic tax havens, Monaco does not offer offshore financial services.
In 1998, the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), issued a first report on the consequences of the financial systems of known tax havens. Monaco did not appear in the list of these territories until 2004, when the OECD became indignant regarding the Monegasque situation and denounced it in a report, along with Andorra, Liechtenstein, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands. The report underlined Monaco's lack of co-operation regarding financial information disclosure and availability. Later, Monaco overcame the OECD's objections and was removed from the "grey list" of uncooperative jurisdictions. In 2009, Monaco went a step further and secured a place on the "white list" after signing twelve information exchange treaties with other jurisdictions.
In 2000, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) stated: "The anti-money laundering system in Monaco is comprehensive. Difficulties have been encountered with Monaco by countries in international investigations on serious crimes that appear to be linked also with tax matters. In addition, the FIU of Monaco (SICCFIN) suffers a great lack of adequate resources. The authorities of Monaco have stated that they will provide additional resources to SICCFIN."
Also in 2000, a report by French politicians Arnaud Montebourg and Vincent Peillon stated that Monaco had relaxed policies with respect to money laundering including within its casino and that the Government of Monaco had been placing political pressure on the judiciary so that alleged crimes were not being properly investigated. In its Progress Report of 2005, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified Monaco, along with 36 other territories, as a tax haven, but in its FATF report of the same year it took a positive view of Monaco's measures against money-laundering.
The Council of Europe also decided to issue reports naming tax havens. Twenty-two territories, including Monaco, were thus evaluated between 1998 and 2000 on a first round. Monaco was the only territory that refused to perform the second round, between 2001 and 2003, whereas the 21 other territories had planned to implement the third and final round, planned between 2005 and 2007.
In June 2024, the FATF added Monaco to its "grey list", which includes countries needing "increased monitoring" due to statewide issues of money laundering and terrorist financing.
=== Numismatics ===
Monaco issued its own coins in various devaluations connected to the écu already in the seventeenth century, but its first decimal coins of the Monégasque franc were issued in 1837 continued until 2001.
Although Monaco is not a European Union member, it is allowed to use the euro as its currency by arrangement with the Council of the European Union; it is also granted the right to use its own designs on the national side of the euro coins, which was introduced in 2002. In preparation for this date, the minting of the new euro coins started as early as 2001. Like Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, Monaco decided to put the minting date on its coins. This is why the first euro coins from Monaco have the year 2001 on them, instead of 2002, like the other countries of the Eurozone that decided to put the year of first circulation (2002) on their coins. Three different designs were selected for the Monégasque coins. The design was changed in 2006 after Prince Rainier's death to feature the effigy of Prince Albert.
=== Transport ===
One of the most important modes of local transportation is walking, and the city is expanding its pedestrian network in the 2020s to be more pedestrian friendly. This includes plans for a new pedestrian bridge in Fontvieille that connects to the new Wurtemberg footbridge.
The Monaco-Monte Carlo station on the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway is served by the SNCF, the French national rail system. The train station is the only one in Monaco, and connects the City-State by rail to French cities along the Riveria such as Nice (and its Nice Côte d'Azur Airport a little under an hour away from Monaco), Cannes, and Marseille (and to a transit point just east of the France-Italy border at Ventimiglia) and high-speed TGV trains connect to more distant locations such as Paris: a gateway to the rest of Europe. The current station is built partly underground and was opened in 1999.
The Monaco Heliport provides helicopter service to the closest airport, Côte d'Azur Airport in Nice, France. The heliport its located in the southwestern edge of Monaco.
The Monaco bus company, Compagnie des Autobus de Monaco (CAM), covers all the tourist attractions, museums, exotic garden, business centres, the Casino, and Stade Louis II.
There are about 77 km (48 miles) of roads in Monaco, many sections of which are also used for automotive and other races. The nearest 4-lane major motorway, the European route E80, passes well clear to the north of the border, and curvy mountain roads connect its ramps to Monaco.
== Demographics ==
Monaco's total population was 38,400 in 2015, and estimated by the United Nations to be 36,297 as of 1 July 2023. As of 2024, Monégasques make up 24.1% of residents, followed by French (21.8%), Italian (19.5%), British (7.6%), Swiss (3.1%), Russian (3.1%), Belgian (2.7%), and German nationals (2.5%). According to 2019 studies, 31% of Monaco's population is reported to be millionaires equalling up to 12,248 individuals.
Citizens of Monaco, whether born in the country or naturalised, are called Monégasque. Monaco has the world's highest life expectancy at nearly 90 years.
=== Language ===
The main and official language of Monaco is French, while Italian is spoken by the principality's sizeable community from Italy. French and Italian are in fact more spoken in the principality today than Monégasque, its historic vernacular language. A variety of Ligurian, Monégasque is not recognised as an official language; nevertheless, some signage appears in both French and Monégasque, and the language is taught in schools. English is also used.
Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it was replaced by French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860).
The Grimaldi, princes of Monaco, are of Ligurian origin; thus, the traditional national language is Monégasque, a variety of Ligurian, now spoken by only a minority of residents and as a common second language by many native residents. In Monaco-Ville, street signs are printed in both French and Monégasque.
=== Religion ===
Christians comprise a total of 86% of Monaco's population.
According to Monaco 2012 International Religious Freedom Report, Roman Catholics are Monaco's largest religious group, followed by Protestant Christians. The Report states that there is a Greek Orthodox church and two Protestant churches, an Anglican church and a Reformed church. There are also various other Evangelical Protestant communities that gather periodically.
The official religion is Catholicism, with freedom of other religions guaranteed by the constitution. There are five Roman Catholic parish churches in Monaco and one cathedral, which is the seat of the archbishop of Monaco.
The diocese, which has existed since the mid-19th century, was raised to a non-metropolitan archbishopric in 1981 as the Archdiocese of Monaco and remains exempt (i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See). The patron saint is Saint Devota.
Monaco's 2012 International Religious Freedom Report states that there is one Greek Orthodox church in Monaco. The Russian Orthodox Parish of the Holy Royal Martyrs meets in the Reformed Church's Rue Louis Notari building.
There is one Anglican church (St Paul's Church), located in the Avenue de Grande Bretagne in Monte Carlo. The church was dedicated in 1925. In 2007 this had a formal membership of 135 Anglican residents in the principality but was also serving a considerably larger number of Anglicans temporarily in the country, mostly as tourists. The church site also accommodates an English-language library of over 3,000 books. The church is part of the Anglican Diocese in Europe.
There is one Reformed church, which meets in a building located in Rue Louis Notari. The building dates from 1958 to 1959. The church is affiliated with the United Protestant Church of France (Église Protestante Unie de France, EPUF), a group that incorporates the former Reformed Church of France (Église Réformée de France). Through this affiliation with EPUF, the church is part of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The church acts as a host church to some other Christian communities, allowing them to use its building.
The Monaco Parish of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (Parish of St Joseph) dates from 2017 and meets in the Reformed Church's Rue Louis Notari building.
The Muslim population of Monaco consists of about 280 people, most of whom are residents, not citizens. The majority of the Muslim population of Monaco are Arabs, though there is a Turkish minority as well. Monaco does not have any official mosques.
According to the Monaco Statistics database (IMSEE), there are around 100 Hindus living in the country.
The Association Culturelle Israélite de Monaco (founded in 1948) is a converted house containing a synagogue, a community Hebrew school, and a kosher food shop, located in Monte Carlo. The community mainly consists of retirees from Britain (40%) and North Africa. Half of the Jewish population is Sephardic, mainly from North Africa, while the other half is Ashkenazi.
=== Education ===
==== Primary and secondary schools ====
Monaco has ten state-operated schools, including: seven nursery and primary schools; one secondary school, Collège Charles III; one lycée that provides general and technological training, Lycée Albert 1er; and one lycée that provides vocational and hotel training, Lycée technique et hôtelier de Monte-Carlo. There are also two grant-aided denominational private schools, Institution François d'Assise Nicolas Barré and Ecole des Sœurs Dominicaines, and one international school, the International School of Monaco, founded in 1994.
==== Colleges and universities ====
There is one university located in Monaco, namely the International University of Monaco (IUM), an English-language university specialising in business education and operated by the Institut des hautes études économiques et commerciales (INSEEC) group.
== Culture ==
=== Architecture ===
Monaco exhibits a wide range of architecture, but the principality's signature style, particularly in Monte Carlo, is that of the Belle Époque. It finds its most florid expression in the 1878–9 Casino and the Salle Garnier created by Charles Garnier and Jules Dutrou. Decorative elements include turrets, balconies, pinnacles, multi-coloured ceramics, and caryatids. These were blended to create a picturesque fantasy of pleasure and luxury, and an alluring expression of how Monaco sought and still seeks, to portray itself. This capriccio of French, Italian, and Spanish elements were incorporated into hacienda villas and apartments. Following major development in the 1970s, Prince Rainier III banned high-rise development in the principality. His successor, Prince Albert II, overturned this Sovereign Order. In recent years the accelerating demolition of Monaco's architectural heritage, including its single-family villas, has created dismay. The principality has no heritage protection legislation.
=== Visual arts ===
Monaco has a national museum of contemporary visual art at the New National Museum of Monaco. In 1997, the Audiovisual Institute of Monaco was founded aimed to preserve audiovisual archives and show how the Principality of Monaco is represented in cinema. The country also has numerous works of public art, statues, museums, and memorials (see list of public art in Monaco).
=== Museums ===
Monaco Top Cars Collection
Napoleon Museum (Monaco)
Oceanographic Museum
Museum of Stamps and Coins
Monaco Naval Museum (Musee Naval)
=== Events, festivals, and shows ===
The Principality of Monaco hosts major international events such as :
International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo
Mondial du Théâtre
Monte-Carlo Television Festival
Golden Nymph Awards
==== Bread festival ====
Monaco also has an annual bread festival on 17 September every year.
=== Parks and gardens ===
There are several gardens in Monaco, which are in a variety of styles and purpose. There is an exotic plant garden, Saint Martin garden, African plants garden, Casino Gardens, Princess Grace Rose Garden, and a Japanese Gardens.
=== Music ===
Monaco has an opera house, a symphony orchestra and a classical ballet company. Monaco participated regularly in the Eurovision Song Contest between 1959–1979 and 2004–2006, winning in 1971, although none of the artists participating for the principality was originally Monegasque. French-born Minouche Barelli, however, acquired Monegasque citizenship in 2002, 35 years after her representing the principality in 1967.
=== Cuisine ===
The cuisine of Monaco is a Mediterranean cuisine shaped by the cooking style of Provence and the influences of nearby northern Italian and southern French cooking, in addition to Monaco's own culinary traditions.
Two famous restaurants in Monaco include the Le Louis XV, currently with three Michelin stars, and the Café de Paris. The Café de Paris is next to the Casino and first opened in 1868, though it has been renovated several times over its lifetime.
=== Sports ===
Major sports in Monaco including motor racing and football. Other sports include athletics, rubgy, basketball, and professional boxing. The Stade Louis II is the only football and athletics stadium in the country. The international governing body of World Athletics (WA) is headquartered in Monaco.
The highest-profile annual event in the country is the Monaco Grand Prix, which is held on the temporary Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo. The race was founded in 1929 and has been on the Formula One calendar since the first season in 1950. Other races also held on the circuit, include Formula 2, Formula 3, the Monaco ePrix, Formula Regional Europe, Porsche Supercup, the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco, and in the past, Formula Renault. Since 1911, the ending portions of the Monte Carlo Rally has been held in the principality. The rally has been on the World Rally Championship calendar for most years and was on the International Rally Championship calendar. In 2014, Monaco inaugurated the Solar1 Monte Carlo Cup, a series of ocean races exclusively for solar-powered boats.
Monaco has two major football teams, both of which play in the French football league system: AS Monaco FC and OS Monaco Women. AS Monaco plays competes in Ligue 1 and is historically one of the most successful clubs in the league. The Monaco national football team represents the nation in minor association football events and is controlled by the Monégasque Football Federation, which manages the amateur Challenge Prince Rainier III tournament. Monaco is not a member of UEFA and does not take part in any UEFA or FIFA competitions.
Due its position as a tourist and gambling centre, Monaco has staged major professional boxing world title and non-title fights from time to time. Those include the Carlos Monzon versus Nino Benvenuti rematch, Monzon's rematch with Emile Griffith, Monzon's two classic fights with Rodrigo Valdez, Davey Moore versus Wilfredo Benitez, the double knockout-ending classic between Lee Roy Murphy and Chisanda Mutti, and Julio César Chávez Sr. versus Rocky Lockridge.
Stade Louis II hosts the annual Diamond League event Herculis in track and field. Monaco also forms part of the Monaco Marathon, the only marathon in the world to pass through three countries as well as an Ironman 70.3 triathlon race. Monaco has been part of Tour de France stages and the 1966 Giro d'Italia.
Monaco competes in the Olympics, Youth Olympic Games, Mediterranean Games, European Games, and the Games of the Small States of Europe. They have yet to win a sporting medal at the Olympic Games, but have had some success in smaller events, including a bronze in bobsleigh at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics and 5 medals in the Mediterranean Games. The Rainier III Nautical Stadium in the Port Hercules district consists of a heated saltwater Olympic-size swimming pool, diving boards and a slide. The pool is converted into an ice rink from December to March.
=== Flag ===
The flag of Monaco is one of the world's oldest national flag designs. Adopted by Monaco on 4 April 1881, it is based on the Monaco Royal colors going back to the 14th century. The ISO code for the Flag is MC, which produces: 🇲🇨
The flag has similarities to the flags of the German states of Hesse and Thuringia, as well as Indonesia, Singapore, and Poland in the modern times. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_education | List of presidents of the United States by education | Most presidents of the United States received a college education, even most of the earliest. Of the first seven presidents, five were college graduates. College degrees have set the presidents apart from the general population, and presidents have held degrees even though it was quite rare and unnecessary for practicing most occupations, including law. Of the 45 individuals to have been the president, 24 graduated from a private undergraduate college, 9 graduated from a public undergraduate college, and 12 held no degree. Every president since 1953 has had a bachelor's degree, reflecting the increasing importance of higher education in the United States. 16 presidents received a Bachelor's or advanced degree from colleges in the Ivy League.
== List by university attended ==
=== Did not graduate from college ===
George Washington (The death of Washington's father ended his formal schooling. The College of William & Mary issued surveying licenses in Virginia, and Washington received his license from the College in 1749 — surveyors did not attend classes at the school. Washington believed strongly in formal education, and his will left money and/or stocks to support three educational institutions, including George Washington University and Washington and Lee University)
James Monroe (attended the College of William & Mary, but dropped out to fight in the Revolutionary War)
Andrew Jackson (qualified as a lawyer in the age before law schools, where a kind of apprenticeship system was used)
Martin Van Buren (read for the law, like Jackson)
William Henry Harrison (attended Hampden–Sydney College for three years but did not graduate and then attended University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine but never received a degree)
Zachary Taylor (received an Army commission without any formal training)
Millard Fillmore (read for the law; founded the University at Buffalo)
Abraham Lincoln (had only about a year of formal schooling of any kind)
Andrew Johnson (no formal schooling of any kind)
Grover Cleveland (read for the law)
William McKinley (attended Allegheny College, but did not graduate; also attended Albany Law School, but also did not graduate)
Harry S. Truman (went to business college and law school, but did not graduate)
=== Undergraduate ===
==== Additional undergraduate information ====
Some presidents attended more than one institution. George Washington never attended college, though the College of William & Mary did issue him a surveyor's certificate. One president attended a foreign college at the undergraduate level: John Quincy Adams at Leiden University (John F. Kennedy intended to study at the London School of Economics, but failed to attend as he fell ill before classes began.) Bill Clinton won a Rhodes Scholarship, enrolling at the University of Oxford in Fall 1968, where he read for a BPhil in politics. He left Oxford without earning a degree in order to enroll at Yale Law School.
Three presidents have attended the United States service academies: Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, while Jimmy Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. No presidents have graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy or the much newer United States Air Force Academy. Eisenhower also graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College, Army Industrial College, and Army War College. These were not degree-granting institutions when Eisenhower attended, but were part of his professional education as a career soldier.
=== Graduate school ===
A total of 21 presidents attended some form of graduate school (including professional schools). Among them, eleven presidents received a graduate degree during their lifetimes; two more received graduate degrees posthumously.
==== Business school ====
==== Graduate school ====
==== Medical school ====
==== Law school ====
Several presidents who were lawyers did not attend law school, but became lawyers after independent study under the tutelage of established attorneys. Some had attended college before beginning their legal studies, and several studied law without first having attended college. Presidents who were lawyers but did not attend law school include: John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; James Madison; James Monroe; John Quincy Adams; Andrew Jackson; Martin Van Buren; John Tyler; James K. Polk; Millard Fillmore; James Buchanan; Abraham Lincoln; James A. Garfield; Grover Cleveland; Benjamin Harrison; and Calvin Coolidge.
Presidents who were admitted to the bar after a combination of law school and independent study include: Franklin Pierce; Chester A. Arthur; William McKinley; and Woodrow Wilson.
== List by graduate degree earned ==
=== Ph.D. (research doctorate) ===
=== M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) ===
=== M.A. (Master of Arts) ===
Note: John Adams and John Quincy Adams, along with George W. Bush are the only presidents to date to attain master's degrees.
=== J.D. or LL.B. (law) ===
Note: Hayes, Taft, Nixon and Ford were awarded LL.B. degrees. When most U.S. law schools began to award the J.D. as the professional degree in law during the 1960s, previous graduates had the choice of converting their LL.B. degrees to a J.D. Duke University Law School made the change in 1968, and Yale Law School in 1971.
== List by president ==
== Other academic associations ==
=== Faculty member ===
=== School rector or president ===
=== School trustee or governor === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulpecula | Vulpecula | Vulpecula () is a faint constellation in the Northern Sky. Its name is Latin for "little fox", although it is commonly called simply the Fox. It was identified in the 17th century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle (an asterism consisting of the bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair).
== Features ==
=== Stars ===
There are no stars brighter than 4th magnitude in this constellation. The brightest star in Vulpecula is Alpha Vulpeculae, a magnitude 4.44m red giant at an approximate distance of 291 light-years. The star is an optical binary (separation of 413.7") that can be split using binoculars. The star also carries the traditional name Anser, which refers to the goose the little fox holds in its jaws.
23 Vulpeculae is the second brightest star in the constellation.
In 1967, the first pulsar, PSR B1919+21, was discovered in Vulpecula by Jocelyn Bell, supervised by Antony Hewish, in Cambridge. While they were searching for scintillation of radio signals of quasars, they observed pulses which repeated with a period of 1.3373 seconds. Terrestrial origin of the signal was ruled out because the time it took the object to reappear was a sidereal day instead of a solar day. This anomaly was finally identified as the signal of a rapidly rotating neutron star. Fifteen years after the first pulsar was discovered, the first millisecond pulsar, PSR B1937+21, was also discovered in Vulpecula, only a few degrees in the sky away from PSR B1919+21.
Vulpecula is also home to HD 189733 b, one of the closest extrasolar planets studied by the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope. On 11 July 2007, a team led by Giovanna Tinetti published the results of their observations using the Spitzer Space Telescope concluding there is solid evidence for significant amounts of water vapor in the planet's atmosphere. Although HD 189733b with atmospheric temperatures rising above 1,000 °C is far from being habitable, this finding increases the likelihood that water, an essential component of life, would be found on a more Earth-like planet in the future.
Also located in Vulpecula is soft gamma repeater SGR 1935+2154. In 2020 it emitted a fast radio burst, the first one to be observed in the Milky Way.
=== Deep-sky objects ===
The Dumbbell Nebula (M27), is a large, bright planetary nebula which was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1764 as the very first object of its kind. It can be seen with good binoculars in a dark sky location, appearing as a dimly glowing disk approximately 8 arcminutes in diameter. The nebula is approximately 9,800 years old. A telescope reveals its double-lobed shape, similar to that of an hourglass. Brocchi's Cluster (Collinder 399) is an asterism formerly thought to be an open cluster. It is also called "the Coathanger" because of its distinctive star pattern when viewed with binoculars or a low power telescope.
NGC 7052 is an elliptical galaxy in Vulpecula at a distance of 214 million light-years from Earth. It has a central dusty disk with a diameter of 3700 light-years; there is a supermassive black hole with a mass of 300 million solar masses in its nucleus. Astronomers surmise that the disk is the remnant of a smaller galaxy that merged with NGC 7052. Jets can be seen emanating from the galaxy, and it has very strong radio emissions. This means that it is also classified as a radio galaxy.
The eastern part of Vulpecula is occupied by the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall. It is a galaxy filament, with the length of 3,000 megaparsecs, making it the largest known structure in the universe.
=== Stellar association ===
Vulpecula contains an OB-association of young stars, called the Vulpecula OB-association or Vul OB1. The association contains nearly 100 OB-stars and over 800 young stellar objects. It lies in the galactic plane, at a distance of about 2300 parsec. It contains the emission-line nebulae Sh-86, Sh-87 and Sh-88. Vul OB1 has a length of about 100 parsec and is sculpting many pillar-like structures in this region.
== History ==
In the late 17th century, the astronomer Johannes Hevelius created Vulpecula. It was originally known as Vulpecula cum ansere ("the little fox with the goose") or Vulpecula et Anser ("the little fox and the goose"), and was illustrated with a goose in the jaws of a fox. Hevelius did not regard the fox and the goose to be two separate constellations, but later the stars were divided into a separate Anser and Vulpecula. Today, they have been merged again under the name of the fox, but the goose is remembered by the name of the star α Vulpeculae: Anser. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Summer_Olympics | 1912 Summer Olympics | The 1912 Summer Olympics (Swedish: Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad (Swedish: Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was held on 6 July. They were the only Summer Olympics to be held in the 1910s as the 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin were cancelled due to World War I.
Twenty-eight nations and 2,408 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports. With the exception of tennis (starting on 5 May) and football and shooting (both starting on 29 June), the games were held within a month with an official opening on 6 July. It was the last Olympics to issue solid gold medals and, with Japan's debut, the first time an official team from an Asian nation participated. Stockholm was the only bid for the games, and was selected in 1909.
The games were the first to have art competitions, women's diving, women's swimming, and the first to feature both the decathlon and the new pentathlon, both won by the American Jim Thorpe. Electric timing was introduced in athletics, while the host country disallowed boxing. Figure skating was rejected by the organizers because they wanted to promote the Nordic Games.
The United States won the most gold medals (26), while hosts Sweden won the most medals overall (65). These were the final Olympic Games for eight years due to the disruption of the First World War. The next Olympic Games were held in 1920 in Antwerp.
== Host selection ==
Following the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, authorities in Sweden immediately sought to ensure that the next games would be held there. There were two Swedish members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the time, Viktor Balck and Clarence von Rosen. The pair proposed the idea to the Swedish governing bodies of athletics and gymnastics in order to ensure that they backed any potential bid. Support was given by the national associations on 18 April 1909 for a bid to host the Olympics in Stockholm on the basis that suitable financial arrangements could be made. King Gustaf V was petitioned on 6 May 1909 following the publication of preliminary plans for the Stockholm bid that the expected cost of hosting the Games would be 415,000 kronor (£23,050 or $115,250). The Government accepted the petition on behalf of the King and supported the bid.
On 28 May, at the meeting of the IOC in Berlin, the Swedish representatives declared that they had full financial support for hosting the next Games in Stockholm. A deal was made with the German IOC representative on the basis that Berlin would host the 1916 Summer Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin spoke at the meeting about his concerns that Sweden should ensure that the Games take place, as he did not want a repeat of the problems with Great Britain hosting the 1908 Games. He also expressed a desire that "the Games must be kept more purely athletic; they must be more dignified, more discreet; more in accordance with classic and artistic requirements; more intimate, and, above all, less expensive." The Games were duly awarded to Sweden to host in Stockholm as the only nominated host city for the 1912 Summer Olympics.
== Organization ==
The news that Stockholm was to host the 1912 Olympics was received with enthusiasm by the Swedish public. The organizing committee took de Coubertin's words to heart, and aimed to achieve an Olympic Games which removed those elements which detracted from earlier Games. The committee was elected in the autumn of 1909, with Balck voted as the President of the committee, and Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf selected as Honorary President. The committee's first meeting took place on 7 October, and on 11 October they delegated the arrangements for the individual branches of sports to the relevant governing bodies in Sweden. There were four exceptions to this, with the game shooting, modern pentathlon and mountain ascents retained by the Olympic committee, and the horse riding competitions being organized by Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, who was the inspector of the Swedish cavalry. Altogether there were 187 members of these committees.
The official invitation to compete in the Games was issued on 18 November 1910 to 27 countries, either directly or through their representative on the IOC. A further 15 countries were to have been invited, but as they had no IOC representatives, the Swedish authorities were unsure how to proceed. Once the organizing committee for the Games received confirmation of the athletic associations in each of the 15 countries, they too were sent invitations. Some 61,800 entry forms were printed for the use of the various nations.
Free transport was arranged for the invited nations' equipment, and a discount of 50 percent was arranged for competitors and delegates on the state run railway. A daily newspaper which only covered the Olympics was arranged to be published during the Games, in both English and Swedish. Further arrangements were made for the general arrival of visitors in order to entertain them whilst they were not at the Games; a pleasure garden was opened north of the Olympic Stadium, and a series of indoor tennis courts were converted into a restaurant.
== Venues ==
Twelve sports venues were used in the 1912 Summer Olympics. This marked the first time that more than one venue would be used for the football tournament, which has been the case ever since. Stockholm Olympic Stadium served as one of the equestrian venues for the 1956 Summer Olympics. Råsunda Stadium served as a venue for the 1958 FIFA World Cup and the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup. In the initial bid document it was identified that a new stadium would be needed, initially envisaged as being located in the Östermalm Athletic Grounds. In order to save funds, it was expected that only one of the stadium's stands would be permanent, with the other three made of wood and dismantled following the Games. The cost of that stadium was estimated at 235,000 Kronor. Arrangements were made with the individual national committees to provide the use of Östermalm Athletic Grounds and Traneberg.
The cycling road race was held around Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden. The water events, including the swimming and the rowing, were held at Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, where a stadium was built. Kaknäs was already used as a shooting range, but alterations were needed to accommodate shooting events. Although it was not used as the Olympic stadium as originally intended, Östermalm hosted the lawn tennis and fencing competitions after a tennis pavilion was moved there from another location.
Five other locations were considered in addition to the Östermalm Athletic Grounds to locate the Olympic Stadium. The Stockholm Olympic Stadium was built on the site of the former Stockholm Athletic Grounds in order to retain the other locations for other uses during the Games. By placing it to the north of the city, the Olympic Stadium was within the immediate vicinity of other pre-existing sporting venues. Initial funding was given to the sum of 400,000 Kr for a timber stadium but Torben Grut, the architect, also drew up alternative plans for a stone stadium. Following discussions with the Swedish Central Association for the Application of Athletics, it was decided that the stone version should be built, and further funds were made available through a national lottery once guarantees were made that no further funding was to be asked for in order to build the stadium. However it was found that the original estimate for the stone stadium would still be too expensive, and the plans were once more modified in order to simplify the design and reduce costs. An agreement was entered into with a contractor on 2 November 1910 that it would be transferred complete by 25 May 1912.
== Opening ceremony ==
The Games of the V Olympiad were opened on 6 July 1912. The Swedish Royal Family left Stockholm Palace at 10:40am, and were received at the Olympic Stadium by members of the IOC. Three thousand competing athletes had already assembled in the nearby Östermalm Athletic Grounds, and began to enter the stadium in alphabetical order by nation according to the Swedish spelling. The Swedish team entered last, but unlike the later tradition, the Greek team did not enter first.
A hymn was sung, a traditional Swedish chant was conducted and prayers were read first in Swedish and then in English. Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf addressed the King on behalf of the Swedish Olympic Association. King Gustav V then declared the Games officially open by a long speech:
It is with legitimate joy and pride that we Swedes see athletes from every part of the world gathered here with us. It is a great honour for Sweden that Stockholm has been chosen as the scene of the Fifth Olympiad, and I bid all of you, athletes and friends of athletics, a most hearty welcome to this friendly contest of the nations. May the grand thought that found expression in the Olympic Games in classic times be so held in honour by our age too, that these competitions may become a powerful means to promote the physical health and development of every people. With these words, I herewith declare the Olympic Games of Stockholm opened.
Afterwards a trumpet fanfare was played and the Crown Prince called for cheers for the King. The athletes in their national groups marching out of the stadium in order ended the ceremony.
== Events ==
The Swedish delegation at the IOC meeting in Berlin on 28 May 1909 had proposed a simple Olympic schedule containing only "pure" athletics, swimming, gymnastics and wrestling. However other countries requested that the schedule be more comprehensive, and with that in mind they put forward a further programme at the IOC meeting in 1911 which was met with approval. The sports which were added were the tug of war, cycling, fencing, football, horse riding, lawn tennis, rowing, shooting, skating and yacht racing. The question of adding skating to the programme was discussed once more on 7 February 1910, with the decision being made to drop it from the schedule. It was felt to be unsuitable because it was a winter sport, and it was to be part of the Nordic Games the following year. Boxing was removed from the programme as it was unappealing to the Swedes. Art competitions were considered at a further meeting on 14 February 1910, and were subsequently added to the programme, but now art competitions are no longer regarded as official Olympic events by the International Olympic Committee.
As a result, now the 1912 Summer Olympics programme considered composed of 14 sports encompassing 18 disciplines and 102 events. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
Baseball, Glima (as the second Olympic demonstration of the sport after 1908 Summer Olympics) and Gotland sports were unofficial demonstration sports. This was also the first year art competitions were held at the Olympics.
=== Athletics ===
The athletic events saw the introduction of a fully automatic timing system developed by R. Carlstedt. It involved attaching electromagnets to chronometers in a system which attached a control lamp to the starting gun for each race. This resulted in the firing of the gun starting a timer which was then stopped by one of the judges at the finishing line. The final of the men's 100 metres was expected to be a mostly American affair, and it ended up with six athletes, only one of whom was not from the United States. It suffered from seven false starts before the athletes finally got away, with Ralph Craig winning the gold medal by 60 centimetres (24 in) in front of second place Alvah Meyer. Donald Lippincott won bronze, 15 cm behind the second man.
Shizo Kanakuri, a Japanese marathon runner, went missing during the race. He lost consciousness by heatstroke and a farming family helped him to stop at a party taking place in a villa on the marathon route in order to quench his thirst, then caught a train to Stockholm and left the country the next day. He returned to Japan without notifying race officials. Fifty years later, after being invited back by the Swedish authorities, he completed the race with an (unofficial) time of 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds. Portuguese Francisco Lázaro died from heat exhaustion while running the marathon, the only athlete to die during the running of an Olympic marathon.
In addition to the physical toll of the event, the reported split time for the 5 km checkpoint at Stocksund (2:17:20 after a 1:48:00 start) implies an unusually slow 29:20 opening segment, followed by an unrealistically fast 10 km pace. Olympic marathon historian David E. Martin has noted this discrepancy as a likely timing error.
American Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and the newly created decathlon. Thorpe's gold medals were stripped by the International Olympic Committee in 1913, after the IOC learned that Thorpe had taken expense money for playing baseball, violating contemporary Olympic amateurism rules, before the 1912 Games. This moved everyone else up in the rankings. In 1982, the IOC was convinced that the disqualification had been improper, as no protest against Thorpe's eligibility had been brought within the required 30 days, and reinstated Thorpe's medals. The replicas were presented to his children in 1983, 30 years after Thorpe's death. Finally, in 2022, the IOC posthumously declared Thorpe as the sole winner of the pentathlon and decathlon events after extensive consultations with his former competitors' families who said they had always viewed Thorpe as the winner.
New Olympic records were set in the majority of track and field events, with only the men's 200 metres, 10 km walk, standing high jump, standing broad jump, hop, step and jump, and the hurdle competitions failing to have new records set. Tell Berna captured a gold for the 3000m and Henry S. "Harry" Babcock took gold for the pole vault, setting an Olympic Record at 3.95m. Hannes Kolehmainen was the most successful in setting records at the games, with new Olympic Records set in the 5,000, 10,000 metre and cross country races.
=== Cycling ===
The cycling events at the 1912 Games were limited to a road race around Lake Mälaren, which had already been a successful route for a yearly cycling race. Although not originally in the schedule, several countries requested that track cycling be added; however, the organizing committee stuck by their plans not to build a new track cycling stadium as the only one in Stockholm had been destroyed in order for the Olympic Stadium to be built. In addition, Germany had specifically requested Cycle-Polo and Figure-Cycling to be added to the programme, both of which requests were turned down by the committee.
It was decided to hold the road race as a time trial, and to outlaw any non-competitive cyclists acting as pacemakers. Nineteen nations entered 151 athletes into the competition, which was a greater number than expected by the committee. The largest group was from Great Britain, who had entered twelve competitors from England, another twelve from Scotland, and a further nine from Ireland. The race began on 7 July, with the athletes leaving in groups. The first group left at 2am, with the remaining groups leaving at intervals of two minutes. The distance raced was 318 kilometres (198 mi), with South African Rudolph Lewis winning the gold medal in the individual race. Frederick Grubb of Great Britain won the silver medal, and Carl Schutte of the United States won the bronze. However, the average positions of the Swedish team were better than their competitors', and so the Swedish team won the gold medal for the team competition. The silver and bronze medals followed the individual victories, going to Great Britain and the United States respectively – giving Grubb and Schutte a second medal each of the same varieties.
=== Diving ===
All of the medals in the men's competitions were split between the diving teams of the Sweden and Germany. The men's high dive was a Swedish white out, with Swedish divers taking all three medal positions. Erik Adlerz took the gold medal, and proceeded to take the gold medal for Sweden in the 10 metre platform too. Albert Zürner took the silver for Germany, and Gustaf Blomgren won the bronze medal for Sweden. Another white out occurred in the 3 metre springboard with all three medals going to the German team, with Paul Günther taking gold, Hans Luber in the silver medal position and Kurt Behrens in bronze. A 10-metre platform event also took place for women, with Sweden taking two more medals, Greta Johansson in gold and Lisa Regnell in silver. Great Britain's Isabelle White won the bronze medal. The remaining finalists were all from Sweden.
=== Equestrian ===
Equestrian made its first appearance at a modern Olympics in the 1912 Games. Although competitions involving horse riding had been included in the programme of 1900, this was the first appearance of modern Olympic staples such as dressage, eventing and show jumping. It was expected that the competitors would be military personnel as they would have had the cavalry experience to compete. The competition was split between the military competitions, prize riding and prize jumping.
In the military competition, seven countries put forward competitors for the individual and team eventing. Each nation put forward four athletes with the exception of Denmark, which only put forward three. Some of the countries also nominated reserves in addition to their main athletes. The total length of the course was 55 kilometres (34 mi) with the start and finish both in the grounds of the Field Riding Club. The heat was such on the day of the event that competitors lost as much as 4.5 pounds (2.0 kg) in weight. Swede Axel Nordlander won the individual competition, and led the Swedish eventing team to victory as well, earning himself two gold medals. In second place in the individual competition was German Friedrich von Rochow, who also earned a second silver medal as the team from Germany placed second overall. Only the bronze medals were split up between nationalities, with the American team including Guy Vernor Henry, Jr. taking the bronze for the team event, while Frenchman Jacques Cariou won the individual medal.
Two additional countries entered for the dressage, although only Sweden entered the maximum number of competitors. The event resulted in Sweden taking all three medals, with the gold going to Carl Bonde, the silver to Gustaf Adolf Boltenstern and the bronze to Hans von Blixen-Finecke. The individual show jumping competition was the only individual equestrian event at the 1912 Olympics in which Sweden won no medals, with the gold medal instead going to Cariou of the French to add to his bronze medal from the dressage, Rabod von Kröcher taking the silver for Germany, and Emmanuel de Blommaert winning the bronze for Belgium. The team event saw Sweden take another gold medal, with the French team second and the German team, featuring Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, in the bronze medal position.
=== Fencing ===
The foil competition became a full Olympic event, having appeared at the 1908 Games as a demonstration sport. Nedo Nadi and Pietro Speciale of Italy took the gold and silver medals respectively, and Richard Verderber of Austria placed third. There were individual and team events in both épée and sabre. The épée team event saw Belgium take the gold medal and Great Britain and the Netherlands in second and third place respectively. A member of the Belgian team went on to take the individual title as well, with Paul Anspach taking the gold medal. Ivan Joseph Martin Osiier of Denmark took the silver medal, and another Belgian who was not in the team event, Philippe le Hardy de Beaulieu, won the bronze medal.
The sabre competition was dominated by the competitors from Hungary, with their team taking the gold medal over Austria and the Netherlands. The individual competition saw a shut out by Hungarian athletes with Jenő Fuchs winning the overall competition, Béla Békessy in second and Ervin Mészáros in third.
=== Football ===
Thirteen countries signalled their intention to enter football teams for the 1912 Olympics. A standard cup tie system was implemented, with the final deciding the gold and silver medallists and a third/fourth position playoff deciding the bronze medal winner. Only FIFA affiliated teams were allowed to take part, with the public draw for the tournament taking place on 18 June 1911. The tournament itself started on 29 June. In the first round Finland defeated Italy 3–2, Austria beat Germany 5–1 and the Netherlands emerged victorious over Sweden 4–3. The team from Great Britain, who had won the gold medal at the 1908 Summer Games, were given a bye to the second round, where they faced Hungary and won 7–0. Finland also won their match, defeating Russia 2–1. Denmark matched the British scoreline, winning 7–0 against Norway, and the Netherlands won against Austria 3–1.
The semi final matches pitted Great Britain against Finland, where they won 4–0, and Denmark against the Netherlands, ending in a 4–1 victory for Denmark. The Netherlands won the third/fourth place playoff by the biggest scoreline of the tournament, beating Finland 9–0. Later on the same day the final was played in the Olympic Stadium, where Great Britain retained its gold medal against Denmark in front of 25,000 spectators. Goals from Harold Walden, Arthur Berry and two from Gordon Hoare helped Britain to win by a margin of 4–2.
=== Gymnastics ===
The gymnastic competition at the 1912 Games featured a single individual competition and three team events in addition to a variety of displays by the various teams. The Swedish team naturally won the Gymnastics event of the Swedish system, referred to in the programme as "Team Competition I", with fellow Scandinavian teams Denmark and Norway taking the second and third positions. The all around team competition came second, with Italy taking the gold. In addition, one of the Italian team members, Alberto Braglia, won the individual gold for the same event. Louis Ségura of the French team won the individual silver, while another member of the Italian team, Adolfo Tunesi, won the individual bronze. The all around team competition saw Hungary take the silver medal and the team from Great Britain in third place. The final team competition allowed for a free choice of movements and apparatus. This was another all Scandinavian affair, with the Norwegian team emerging victorious, Finland in second and Denmark in the bronze medal position.
=== Modern pentathlon ===
Modern pentathlon was competed for at the 1912 Games, marking its first appearance in the Olympics. It was for these games that the five events of shooting, swimming, equestrian, fencing and cross country running were decided to make up the pentathlon. The competition was spread out across five days from 7 through to 12 July, ending with the cross country race. Only men participated in the event, although a woman named Helen Preece was briefly enrolled to compete until the organizing committee ultimately denied her entry.
For the shooting element, each competitor was allowed to bring their own pistol. The American competitor George S. Patton (later better known as the Second World War US Army General) used a .38 caliber Colt revolver, while the Danish competitors preferred the Danish Army service pistol, the Bergmann–Bayard, the Germans and Norwegians used the Luger P08 pistol and the Swedes used a target practice pistol by Smith & Wesson. The shooting part of the competition was won by Gösta Åsbrink, with Georg de Laval and Gösta Lilliehöök in second and third place respectively, all three representing Sweden.
The swimming event was three lengths, each of 100 metres (330 ft), with the athletes split into eight heats and times going forward to calculate positions. Ralph Clilverd of Great Britain won this event, with Edmond Bernhardt of Austria in second and de Laval in third. The fencing competition saw each competitor face off against each other. Several opponents were noted for their particular skill in the event with Åke Grönhagen of Sweden coming first with 24 wins, Jean de Mas Latrie of France second with 23, Sidney Stranne of Sweden in third with 21 and Patton of the United States close behind with 20. Thirteen of the competitors cleared the equestrian course without any penalties, with Grönhagen winning the event, Bror Mannström of Sweden in second and de Laval third.
The cross country run was over 4,000 metres and started in the Olympic Stadium itself. The event was run as a time trial with competitors leaving one minute apart. As this was the final event, the winning competitors were announced after the race, with Lilliehöök winning the gold medal, Åsbrink taking silver and de Laval, bronze. The highest placed non-Swedish competitor was Patton, who finished fifth.
=== Rowing ===
The rowing events at the 1912 Olympics did not prove popular with the public. This was put down to the "fatigue" of the public due to the volume of sporting events. The eight competition was split into heats, with two teams in each heat. The two British crews were lucky not to be drawn against each other, with the team from Leander Club facing New College, Oxford in the final. Leander won by a length with a time of 6:15. The coxed four followed a similar format to the eights, with the German team from Ludwigshafener Ruderverein defeating Britain's Thames Rowing Club in the final.
The competition for the coxed four, inriggers was much smaller, with only four nations competing. The Danish team defeated Sweden in the final. The single sculls heats proved controversial with the first round race between Mart Kuusik and Alfred Heinrich being re-run after a protest by Heinrich. In addition, Cecil McVilly was disqualified in the first round after colliding with the boat of Martin Stahnke. Wally Kinnear of Great Britain defeated Polydore Veirman of Belgium in the final, with Kinnear winning the matchup easily.
=== Sailing ===
The yachts for the sailing competition assembled at Nynäshamn on 19 July, along with the other vessels that were to take part in an Olympic regatta. The racing itself started the following day with the 12 metre class. There were only three nations and yachts competing in this event, the hosts Sweden, as well as Norway and Finland. Norway won the gold medal, Sweden the silver and Finland came in last place, winning bronze. The 10 metre class had the same number of countries entering it, although this time Sweden entered two yachts and Russia competed instead of Norway. The Swedish yacht Kitty was the winning vessel, with the Finnish boat in second and the Russians coming third.
A slightly improved field was featured in the 8 metre class, with four countries entering two yachts each. The medals were awarded to exactly the same nations as the 12 metre class, another all Scandinavian affair. The 6 metre class saw the most diverse field of any of the sailing events at the 1912 Olympics: six countries entered a total of nine yachts. France and Denmark competed in their only sailing event, along with Sweden, sending two yachts each. Those three nations were the successful in the event, with the French yacht Mac Miche taking the gold, the Danish Nurdug II taking silver and the Swedish Kerstin placing third.
=== Shooting ===
There were eighteen shooting events at the 1912 Olympics, of which eight were team events. The competition was split predominantly into three sections: military rifle shooting, shooting with miniature rifles, pistols and revolvers, and clay bird and running deer shooting. The Swedish and American competitors were the most successful at the competition, with seven gold medals each, although Sweden won a total of seventeen medals while the United States team won fourteen. 64-year-old Oscar Swahn, part of the Swedish single shot running deer team, is still the oldest gold medal winner in Olympic history.
=== Swimming ===
In swimming, Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku won the 100 metre freestyle for the United States, who also saw Harry Hebner win gold in the 100 metre backstroke. The Canadian team also took two gold medals, both by George Hodgson in the 400 and 1,500 metre events. The German swimming team won all three medals in the 200 metre breaststroke, with the gold going to Walter Bathe, who won a further gold in the 400 metre breaststroke. The Australasian team was victorious in the men's relay, with the United States finishing in the silver medal position and Great Britain placing third.
The 1912 Games saw the implementation of swimming events for women, with the 100 metre freestyle and 400 metre team relay taking place. Fanny Durack won the individual contest, breaking the world record for the distance in the fourth heat. Her fellow Australian Mina Wylie won the silver medal, and Jennie Fletcher of Great Britain came third to take the bronze medal. The British team had further success in the women's relay, winning the team relay with the German team in second place and the Austrian team in third. Because only four countries entered the relay there were no heats; only a final was held. The United States did not field a women's team. New Olympic Records were set in all swimming events at the 1912 Games.
=== Tennis ===
Tennis on covered courts was agreed initially for the 1912 Games, with competitions run for gentlemen's singles and doubles, ladies' singles, and mixed doubles. The outdoor tournament was confirmed once the Östermalm Athletic Grounds were completed in late 1911, with the plans modified to have both indoor and outdoor tournaments.
Six countries sent players for the covered court competitions, with representatives from Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark, France, Australasia, and Bohemia appearing. Included in this lineup was Australasia's only competitor, Anthony Wilding from New Zealand, who was also the reigning Wimbledon gentlemen's champion. The indoor knockout competition started on 5 May, and continued as expected until the semi-final round where Wilding was beaten by Britain's Charles P. Dixon. The British player met Frenchman André Gobert in the final, but Gobert was victorious over the Englishman in straight sets. Wilding took the bronze medal in a playoff against another British player, Arthur Lowe.
The outdoors tennis competition saw 70 players enter from 12 nations. However, Great Britain did not enter any competitors as the dates of the outdoor competition clashed with the 1912 Wimbledon Championships, despite attempts by the British authorities to convince the Olympic organizing committee to change the dates. Other noted tennis players refused to compete at the Olympics and instead attended Wimbledon. The gold and silver medals in the gentlemen's singles ended up being decided between two South Africans, with Charles Winslow and Harold Kitson playing each other. Winslow won the match and the gold medal, 7–5, 4–6, 10–8, 8–6. The duo also competed as a pair in the gentlemen's doubles and took the gold medal, beating the Austrians Felix Pipes and Arthur Zborzil. Marguerite Broquedis of France defeated Dorothea Koring of Germany in the ladies' singles for the gold medal. In the mixed doubles Koring teamed up with Heinrich Schomburgk to win the gold, the duo defeating Sigrid Fick and Gunnar Setterwall of Sweden in the final.
=== Tug of war ===
The tug of war competition was scheduled to take place between 7 and 12 July, with two matches taking place each day. However, out of the five countries which elected to enter the competition, only two actually appeared. Great Britain arrived for its match against Bohemia, but the opposition team was nowhere to be found. Britain was duly declared the winner. The same thing happened once more for the second match, with the Swedish team, made up of policemen from Stockholm, arriving to find that the Austrian team had not arrived. Sweden was announced as the winners of the match in the Austrians' absence.
On the second day of the competition, Great Britain took on Sweden, the only occasion where both teams actually turned up for the bout. The British team were made up of the winners of the gold medal in the same event at the 1908 Games, with the exception of John Sewell and Mathias Hynes. As the British team also consisted of policemen, the bout ended up effectively being between the City of London Police and the Stockholm Police, with the Swedish team winning 2–0. Due to the non-appearance of the team from Luxembourg, that one match ended up being the entire tug of war event at the 1912 Olympics. Sweden was awarded the gold medal and Great Britain the silver.
=== Water polo ===
The water polo tournament was set up on a modified elimination system as there were six teams entered. The first round saw the British team defeating the Belgian team, Sweden defeating the French team and Austria defeating Hungary. Lots were drawn to determine which match would take place in the second round as there were three teams left in the competition. Great Britain were drawn to face Sweden, who they defeated. Austria automatically qualified for the final against the winner of the Britain-Sweden matchup. Great Britain won the gold medal in the event, defeating Austria 8–0. Playoff matches were then played between each pair of defeated teams in order to decide the second and third places. Sweden and Belgium played off after a further three matches to decide the silver and bronze medal positions, with Sweden emerging victorious 4–2.
=== Wrestling ===
The nations at the 1912 Games entered a total of 267 wrestlers, although the actual competitors who appeared in Sweden were fewer, with 171 actually turning up to compete. Greco-Roman wrestling was the only style of wrestling competed for at the Games. The bouts took place in the open air in an area of the Olympic stadium, with the wrestlers split according to weight into five divisions: featherweight, lightweight, middleweight A (later referred to as middleweight), middleweight B (later referred to as light heavyweight) and heavyweight.
The skills of the competitors from Finland were noted in the featherweight competition, with Kaarlo Koskelo taking the gold medal, while German Georg Gerstäcker took silver and a further medal went to Finland with Otto Lasanen taking bronze. The lightweight class drew the most attention from the public, with Emil Väre winning gold after beating all of his opponents by pin rather than by points. Swedish wrestlers Gustaf Malmström and Edvin Mattiasson took the silver and bronze medals respectively. Claes Johanson won Sweden's only gold medal in the middleweight competition, with his fellow finalist from Russia, Martin Klein, retiring before fighting Johanson in the final. This was due to the semi-final match between Klein and Alfred Asikainen of Finland lasting 11 hours and forty minutes, although they took breaks for refreshments every half-hour. Klein was awarded the silver medal and Asikainen the bronze.
The light heavyweight competition saw another marathon length match, with the bout between Anders Ahlgren of Sweden and Ivar Böhling of Finland for the gold medal lasting more than nine hours. The match was then declared a draw with both athletes being awarded the silver medal as neither won the match. The bronze medal went to Hungary's Béla Varga, who was defeated by Ahlgren in the semi-final match. Yrjö Saarela of Finland was victorious in the heavyweight competition after having placed second in the light heavyweight event at the 1908 Games. Johan Olin took another medal for Finland with the silver and Søren Marinus Jensen repeated his bronze medal at the 1908 Olympics with another for Denmark.
=== Art competitions ===
The 1912 Summer Olympics saw the introduction of art competitions at the Summer Olympics. Events were implemented for literature, sculpture, painting, architecture and music. Walter Winans won the gold medal for his sculpture, An American Trotter, which added to his previous gold medal for the running deer (double shot) competition at the 1908 Olympics and the silver medal in the running deer competition in 1912.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, President of the IOC and founder of the modern Olympic movement, won the gold medal for literature. He actually entered the competition under the pseudonyms of Georges Hohrod and Martin Eschbach from Germany. With the exception of the sculpture competition, only gold medals were issued. Italian Riccardo Barthelemy won the medal for music with his Olympic Triumphal March, and fellow countryman Giovanni Pellegrini won the gold for painting. The Swiss architects Eugène-Edouard Monod and Alphonse Laverrière shared the gold for their stadium design. The sole silver medal, for sculpture, went to Frenchman Georges Dubois for his Model of the entrance to a modern stadium.
=== Demonstration sports ===
In the evening of 7 July, demonstrations took place in the Olympic Stadium of sports from the Swedish island of Gotland. These began at 7:30pm with a demonstration of Pärk, a type of tennis with seven players a side. At the same time, at the other end of the stadium, a type of Icelandic wrestling called Glima was demonstrated. Once those displays had concluded, further demonstrations were made of the Swedish sport varpa, similar to quoits, and stångstörtning, a version of the caber toss. The three disciplines showcased were pärk, varpa and stångstörtning.
Baseball was also demonstrated at the Games. A game was played between the United States, the nation where the game was developed, and Sweden, the host nation. The game was held on Monday, 15 July 1912 and started at 10 a.m. on the Ostermalm Athletic Grounds in Stockholm. The Americans were represented by various members of the American Olympic track and field athletics delegation, while the Swedish team was the Vesterås Baseball Club, which had been formed in 1910 as the first baseball club in Sweden. Four of the Americans played for Sweden, as the Swedish pitchers and catchers were inexperienced. One Swede eventually relieved Adams and Nelson, the American pitchers.
Six innings were played, with the Americans not batting in the sixth and allowing the Swedes to have six outs in their half of the inning. The game was umpired by George Wright, a retired American National League baseball player.
== Participating nations ==
Twenty-eight nations competed at the 1912 Games. Egypt participated for the first time, as did Luxembourg, Iceland, Portugal, and Serbia. Japan also made their Olympic debut, marking the first appearance of an Asian country at an Olympic Games. Chile made its first appearance as a national team, with fourteen athletes attending the Games, although it had previously entered one individual at the 1896 Games. This was also the first time that athletes from Armenia had competed in the Olympics, as part of the team from Turkey (the officially recognised name for the Ottoman Empire). Serbia's appearance was the only time it attended an Olympic Games as an independent nation until the 2008 Summer Olympics, almost one hundred years later.
The only nation that participated in the previous games in London 1908 but was absent in Stockholm 1912 was Argentina.
Austria and Hungary competed as two sovereign countries. The polity known as Austria-Hungary is mistakenly considered a single sovereign country, while in reality was two sovereign states in real union with a single monarch who was titled both emperor of Austria and king of Hungary.
At the time, Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Canada and South Africa were all part of the British Empire. Bohemia was part of Austria-Hungary. Iceland was part of Denmark. Finland was part of Russia. Egypt was de jure under the control of Turkey, but had been de facto run by the British since 1882.
This was the last Olympics that allowed "private entries", i.e. individual athletes that were not part of a country's officially selected team. Arnold Jackson was one such private entry; he won the 1500 metres by 0.1 seconds, ahead of an American trio, in what was acclaimed at the time to be "the greatest race ever run". His medal is still credited to the United Kingdom, however.
=== Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees ===
== Medal count ==
These are the top 10 nations that won medals at the 1912 Games. The medals themselves included solid gold medals, the last time these were given out. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azamat_Satybaldy | Azamat Satybaldy | Azamat Satybaldy (Kazakh: Азамат Сатыбалды; born 2 November 1977) is a Kazakhstani actor of drama theater, cinema, producer, and television presenter. He is an Honored Artist of Kazakhstan (2014). He is also the Dean of Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts (since 14 February 2022).
== Biography ==
Azamat Satybaldy was born in the settlement of Lugovoye, Jambyl Region, on 2 November 1977.
In 1997, Azamat moved to Almaty to study at Zhurgenov Academy of Arts, and in 2000 he was sent to Kostanay Regional Drama Theater named after Omarov to finish his thesis. Having received his diploma in 2001, he joined Kazakh State Academic Drama Theater named after M.O. Auezov.
Nearly 20 years after his debut at the main stage, Azamat was appointed Director of Musrepov Kazakh State Academic Theater for Children and Young Adults. In 2017, Azamat established his own theater company and filmmaking studio named "28 Theatre" and "Cinema 28" respectively. Mr. Satybaldy was appointed Dean of Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts in February 2022.
From July 2023 to July 2024, he was the President of Kazakhfilm JSC.
== Filmography ==
== Family life ==
Azamat's wife, Karabalina Nazgul Adietovna (b. 1977) is a Kazakh stage actress and producer. Laureate of Daryn State Award. They have a son named Sultan.
== Awards ==
2014 – Honored Artist of Kazakhstan
2016 – 25 Years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan Medal
2021— Order of Kurmet |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Kenya | President of Kenya | The president of the Republic of Kenya (Swahili: Rais wa Jamhuri ya Kenya) is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Kenya. The president is also the head of the executive branch of the Government of Kenya and is the commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defence Forces. The country's current president is William Ruto since 13 September 2022.
== History ==
On 12 December 1964, the Republic of Kenya was proclaimed and Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya's first president.
Kenya has had a total of five presidents since establishment, in successive order: Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the incumbent, William Ruto, who was inaugurated on 13 September 2022. Moi remains the country's longest serving president, having served for a total of 24 years.
== Qualifications and election to office ==
According to the current Constitution, if a person wishes to be elected as president, the following qualifications must be met:
Should be a Kenyan citizen by birth;
Should be qualified for election as a Member of Parliament;
Should have been nominated by a political party to stand as its candidate for the presidency, or they may stand as an independent candidate; and
The person should have been nominated by more than two thousand voters from each of a majority of the country's 47 counties.
A candidate will be disqualified to run for presidency if they have allegiance to a foreign state or is working for the government in any capacity as a public officer. Being a public officer is not applicable to the incumbent president if running for a second term.
The president is elected by popular vote in the general election held in the month of August every five years. For a presidential candidate to be declared the winner, they must have:
More than half of the total votes cast in the election; and
At least 25% of the votes cast in each of more than half of the 47 counties in the country.
The official residence of the president of Kenya is State House, Nairobi.
The wife of the president is referred to as the first lady of Kenya.
== Term of office ==
A president is eligible for two consecutive terms of five years each, starting from the date the president is sworn in.
== Roles and responsibilities ==
The following is a summary of the roles of the president of Kenya as provided in the Constitution of Kenya:
Is the country's head of state and government.
Exercises the country's executive authority.
Is the commander-in-chief of the country's military, the Kenya Defence Forces.
Is the chairperson of the country's National Security Council.
Is a symbol of national unity.
The responsibilities of the president are summarised as follows:
Is responsible for addressing each newly elected Parliament and report once to special parliamentary seating concerning issues of national value and governance.
Holds nominating and appointing authority, with Parliament's approval, over the country's cabinet secretaries, attorney-general, principal secretaries, diplomatic and consular representatives and any other public officer over whom the Constitution grants said authority.
Is the chairperson of Cabinet meetings and oversees the running of operations in various ministries and government departments.
The president may also undertake any other executive functions as permitted by the Constitution.
The president also exercises the power of mercy, whereupon the president may pardon a person convicted of an offence.
Additionally, a person serving as president has legal immunity, with the exception of crimes under treaties to which Kenya is party with provisions that prohibit such immunity.
== List of presidents ==
== Presidential standards ==
As with most other countries, the president of Kenya has a presidential standard to signify their status as the country's head of state and government. Its design is generally based on the country's national flag, although the president has some leeway to customise its appearance. The flag is generally displayed in notable locations associated with the president, usually alongside the national flag, such as the president's offices and the president's official state car, and during notable state occasions.
The presidential standards of Kenya's presidents since the country's independence have been as follows:
Lists of incumbents
Politics of Kenya
Prime Minister of Kenya |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Conan_Davis | William Conan Davis | William Conan Davis (August 22, 1926 – March 16, 2022) was a professor emeritus and was chair of natural sciences at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas. The William C. Davis Science Building is named in his honor.
He is best known for his research in food chemistry. He discovered arabinogalactan and used it to create instant mashed potatoes. His discoveries also improved potato chips and soft serve ice cream. He developed an organic glue for use in particle board. More recently, he co-developed the formula for Dasani water.
In addition to his scientific work, he was a Lutheran lay minister, served during the Korean War, and received the Purple Heart. Furthermore, Davis was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
== Education ==
William Conan Davis was born on August 22, 1926, in Waycross, Georgia to Kince Charles Davis and his wife Laura Jane (née Cooper; July 9, 1898 – June 6, 2004). Kince Davis' family self-identified as being of Ethiopian Jewish descent, and he read Hebrew but not English.
Kince Davis was employed as a railway construction engineer and crew boss, a position that brought him threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
He later started a herbal medicine business, the only source of medical care accessible to many black people in Georgia. William Davis spent time during the summers with his maternal grandfather Jonnas Franklin, who identified as a Sioux Indian and who farmed and hunted near the Okefenokee Swamp.
William Davis attended Magnolia Grammar School and Dasher High School in Valdosta, Georgia. He received a high school diploma from Dasher in 1944.
His family was active in civil rights and supportive of their children's education. On one occasion Kince Davis drove his sons William and Kenneth to Tuskegee Institute (a distance of 300 miles in a Tin Lizzie) to attend a workshop with George Washington Carver and Henry Ford. This experience fueled William's interest in becoming a chemist.
Dasher High School did not teach at a college preparatory level, leaving William at a disadvantage in science and mathematics. To prepare him for college, William's family sent him to New York City in 1944. He lived with his older brother, actor and civil rights activist Ossie Davis. He attended Dwight High School, taking preparatory classes in science and graduating in 1945.
William Davis briefly attended the City College of New York, but was advised to transfer to Talladega College in Alabama where he could get more individual support in calculus.
Davis was enrolled in the U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
During his first year at Talladega, he was drafted to serve in the Korean War. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He served in Germany and was awarded a Purple Heart in 1953.
On his return, Davis completed his B.S. degree in chemistry at Talladega College, graduating in 1956.
He was one of three students chosen for a George Washington Carver research fellowship to attend Tuskegee Institute in 1956. At the time, it was almost impossible for a black scientist to train for a professional career in research in the United States. Even at Tuskegee, the usual career track was to train as a teacher, with a specialization in one's area of interest. Davis was determined to do research. He worked with Clarence T. Mason of Tuskegee and studied the hydrolysis rate of compounds in jet fuel. This research enabled him to meet Wernher von Braun of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Davis received his Master of Science degree in organic chemistry from Tuskegee in 1958.
== Doctoral research ==
It was extremely difficult for a black student to find support for a Ph.D. program in research. The University of Idaho was the only university willing to accept Davis as a research-track graduate student. Davis and his wife Ocia moved to Moscow, Idaho. Perhaps not surprisingly, given this location, his thesis research involved potatoes. Davis studied the process of sloughing, by which plant materials break down. This has important applications in food chemistry. Soup manufacturers want potatoes that tend to stay firm, not sloughing. Makers of mashed potatoes want potato flakes to break down rapidly and reform with a uniform, soft consistency.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Research department at nearby Washington State University advertised for summer researchers to study the buildup of particles on saw blades in lumber mills. Davis applied and was able to identify the source of the problem. He isolated and extracted a dry, crystal-like powder, arabinogalactan, that produced a sticky paste when water was added to it. This water-soluble polysaccharide is found in Western Larch trees (Larix occidentalis) and other plants and is believed to have health benefits. At the time, no one had any idea of how to make use of the substance Davis had identified.
Back at the University of Idaho, Davis studied potato chips and what caused them to blister when fried. He was able to isolate the substance that caused the blistering, but when it was removed from the potatoes they disintegrated. Frustrated by the apparent stalemate in both lines of research, Davis tried adding arabinogalactans to his potato mixtures. The water was absorbed, and the potatoes fluffed up. Davis' approach improved the sloughing properties of the potatoes and created instant mashed potatoes with a more desirable texture and consistency.
While completing his doctorate, Davis worked with scientists at Washington State University in a variety of fields, including clinical research with Mark Adams.
Davis did further research into the extraction of arabinogalactan from larch trees. He identified a sugar that makes frozen desserts smoother and is used to make soft-serve ice cream.
He also helped to discover a wood sugar that is used in industrial glue to make compressed wood. These discoveries were not patented, and most were further developed by others.
Davis received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Idaho in 1965.
His Ph.D. thesis was A Study of Sloughing in the Potato Tuber (1965).
He was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Idaho.
== Further career ==
After graduation, Davis accepted a position as a researcher with the Division of Industrial Research at Washington State University, researching antigens for hay fever.
Davis worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Rosalyn Yalow at the Bronx Veteran's Affairs Hospital, where he learned radioimmunoassay techniques for use with diabetic patients. Using his knowledge of radioimmunoassay techniques Davis developed standardized tests for the detection of thyroxin in the blood stream. He also developed standardized blood tests for insulin and growth hormones.
Davis was recruited as a health physicist and became head of the radioactivity department at United Medical Laboratories in Portland, Oregon.
Following certification as a medial technologist, Davis became director of the laboratory.
He spent nearly fifteen years as Director of United Medical Laboratories.
[At United Medical Laboratories] we provided analyses for doctors all over the world, and devised methods for reducing the time and cost of conducting clinical assays to develop detect concentrations of hormones and steroids in the blood such as aldosterone, estrogen, and testosterone ... We made exotic procedures routine and brought their price down. Using autoanalyzers when they had just come out, we could perform tests more quickly than they could be done locally.
Concerned about the lack of medical facilities available to African Americans in the Portland area, Davis worked with Kent Ford of the Portland Black Panther Party and others to establish the Fred Hampton Memorial Clinic in 1970. The clinic offered free medical services to both blacks and whites in the Albina neighborhood. Davis was one of the few black professionals to volunteer at the clinic: its doctors were predominantly white. He was strongly involved in its sickle-cell anemia initiatives. The clinic emphasized screening, education and counseling about the genetic disorder which disproportionately affects African Americans.
In 1972, Davis helped put on the Black Community Survival Conference, a protest against the expansion of the Emanuel Hospital. The expansion was planned without community input and largely destroyed the commercial center of a historically black neighborhood.
From 1974 to 1975, Davis was a visiting scientist at the George Hyman Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
From 1979 to 1982, Davis was a research associate in Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. He worked with Maharaj K. Ticku to study the effects of picrotoxin, benzodiazepines, pentobarbital, ethanol, and other psychoactive substances on receptor binding sites.
In 1983, Davis was hired as an instructor in the chemistry department at St. Philip's College, giving him more opportunity for teaching as well as research. He became a full professor of chemistry in 1995. He became the chair of the Natural Sciences Department in 1996. He was also the director of Renewable Energy at St. Philip's College.
I tell my students to be curious about everything — and ask, 'How can I improve this? How can I be of service?'
While at St. Philip's College, one of Davis' focuses of study was water. Davis worked with United Beverage company to study the behavioral properties of Penta Water, which he nicknamed "kinetic water". The company promoted their product as having uniquely distinct chemical properties due to its purification process. Davis studied characteristics such as boiling point, pH, polarity and surface tension. With Lanier Byrd, Davis co-created the formula that gives a characteristic taste to Dasani water, a product of The Coca-Cola Company. In addition to hydrology, Davis was interested in recombinant DNA and fuel cell technologies for renewable energy.
Davis retired in 2009, becoming a professor emeritus of St. Philip's College. At that time, it was decided to rename the natural sciences building in his honor to acknowledge his contributions. Funds were raised to renovate the building, and it was reopened and dedicated as the William C. Davis Science Building in 2012.
A portrait of William Davis, commissioned from Howard Rhoder, hangs in the science building. Davis awarded the St. Phillips College $20,000 towards science and STEM scholarships to the school.
'Observe!' I have instructed my students to do thousands of times. We can take two or more existing things, analyze them for what they are, and then synthesize something entirely new that did not exist before. This is the heartbeat of scientific research and discovery.
Davis was also active in preserving the history of science. He helped to establish the Ernest Stevenson Collection of scientific books and artifacts, to be housed at the Sutton Learning Center at St. Philip's College. Before his death, he was working on his memoirs with the support of historian Jeanette Nyda Mendelssohn Passty.
== Awards ==
1953, Purple Heart Medal, U.S. Armed Forces
1956, George Washington Carver Fellowship, Tuskegee Institute
2000, Texas Hall of Fame; one of 16 charter members
2010, Honorary associate degree, St. Philip's College
2020, Genius Award, Liberty Science Center
== Memberships ==
American Chemical Society
Health Physics Society
Society of Nuclear Medicine
American Association for the Advancement of Science |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Gonz%C3%A1lez_(baseball) | Juan González (baseball) | Juan Alberto González Vázquez (born October 20, 1969), nicknamed Juan Gone, is a Puerto Rican former baseball outfielder. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams, but is most identified with the Texas Rangers, for whom he played from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2003. One of the premier run producers and most feared hitters of the 1990s and early 2000s, González hit over 40 home runs five times and amassed at least 100 runs batted in (RBI) eight times. He also had a batting average of .310 or higher in five seasons.
In his career as a whole, González averaged 42 home runs, 135 RBI, 81 extra-base hits, and 353 total bases per 162 games, placing him well within the top ten all-time in these season-adjusted statistics.
González was known as a line drive hitter, not a fly-ball home run hitter, as were many power hitters of the 1990s. He was a full-time player at the age of 21 and a two-time Most Valuable Player before his 30th birthday. González explained his propensity for bringing runners home by saying, "I concentrate more when I see men on base."
== Early life ==
González grew up in a rough area of Puerto Rico, where as a young boy he learned to hit bottlecaps and corks with a broomstick handle in the Alto de Cuba barrio. In the Puerto Rico youth league, González batted cleanup behind future Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams, where both competed against González's future teammate Iván Rodríguez. When the Yankees scouted the teenage Williams, he requested that they also bring his friend González to their scouting camp on the east coast; however, due to a lack of funding, González would remain in Puerto Rico.
== Professional career ==
=== Minors ===
The Texas Rangers signed González as an amateur free agent on May 30, 1986, at the age of 16. González has always wanted to serve as a role model for the kids of Puerto Rico, as they are faced with the downfalls of drugs and prostitution frequently. González avoided such temptations growing up. His father, a math teacher, and mother, a housewife, made sure González and his two sisters behaved properly and stayed away from negative influences. González moved his family out of the barrio early in his MLB career. He paid utility bills for down-on-their-luck friends and plans on working to construct recreation facilities and a baseball diamond in his home town. One of Juan's managers, Johnny Oates, believed that until you've walked where Juan González has walked, you just won't understand. Speaking from experience, as Oates has walked the streets of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, during visits multiple times, he had this to say: "I don't think you can appreciate how far he's come until you've been there", Oates said. "We might be making choices between going to the movies or going to the skating rink. But look at the choices the kids there were faced with growing up – do you want to do drugs or get beaten up? I think it says so much about him that he was able to rise above the peer pressure in Vega Baja. He had enough intelligence to say, 'I don't want to do that.'"
In Puerto Rico he is known as "Igor", the nickname he has carried since he was a nine-year-old fascinated by the professional wrestler "Igor the Magnificent."
"I watched wrestling all the time and I still like it", González said. "One day when I was nine, I told another guy, 'I'm Igor.' And he said, 'Okay, your name is Igor from now on.' And I've been Igor since then."
González debuted with the 1986 GCL Rangers and finished with .240 batting average, .303 on-base percentage, and a .266 slugging percentage in 60 games. He only had five extra-base hits (none of them home runs) in 233 AB and struck out 57 times. He tied Harvey Pulliam by grounding into a Gulf Coast League-leading 9 double plays.
In 1987, González showed some improvement with the Gastonia Rangers, though Mark Whiten and Junior Felix were deemed better outfield prospects in the South Atlantic League. In ratings by Baseball America, González tied Ryan Bowen for 10th place on the prospect listing. He finished with .265 batting average, .306 on-base percentage, and .401 slugging percentage with 14 home runs and 74 RBI.
González spent 1988 with the Charlotte Rangers and batted .256/~.327/.415 with 8 home runs in 277 AB. One of his outfield teammates that year was Sammy Sosa. The next year, he showed more improvement with the Tulsa Drillers hitting .293/~.322/.506 with 21 home runs and led the Texas League with 254 total bases. He outhomered Sosa by 14 and was third in the League in home runs, behind teammate Dean Palmer (25) and Chris Cron (22). González was rated the league's No. 4 prospect by Baseball America, behind Ray Lankford, Andy Benes and José Offerman. Lankford and Warren Newson joined him in the TL All-Star outfield.
=== Texas Rangers (1989–1999) ===
González was called up by the Texas Rangers in September of that year, but only hit .150/.227/.250. During his time with the Rangers that year, González only hit one home run. He became the youngest player in Rangers history (19 yrs old) to hit a home run.
In 1990, González – playing with the Oklahoma City 89ers – led the American Association in home runs (29), RBI (101) and total bases (252). He made the AAA All-Star outfield alongside Lankford and Bernard Gilkey and was named the league MVP. Baseball America named him the top prospect in the league in a poll of managers. He finished with .258/~.343/.508 for the 89ers. In the AAA All-Star Game, González hit 4th for the AL prospects and played as a designated hitter. He went 2 for 5 with a double, one of the game's two homers, two runs and two RBI in the AL's 8–5 loss. González was again called up by the Rangers and did far better this time, batting .289/.316/.522.
In 1991, Texas gave González a chance to be an everyday player. He batted .264 while hitting 27 home runs and recording 102 runs batted in (RBIs). González came up as a center fielder, as did teammate Sammy Sosa; but the Rangers opted to keep González and trade Sosa. González split his time in the OF between CF (93 games) and LF (92 games). González thrilled the club in his first full season at the young age of 21, as his 27 home runs led the Rangers. His 102 RBI was good enough for 2nd on the club, and 7th in the AL.
In 1992, González finished with a .260 batting average, 43 home runs, and 109 RBIs. He spent most of his time in CF in '92, playing 123 games there, 31 in LF and making just one appearance in RF, while DH-ing 4 games. He was the American League home run champion (one more than Mark McGwire) while also ranking 3rd in TB (309), 4th in extra-base hits (69), 5th in slugging percentage (.529), 7th in RBIs (109) while winning his first Silver Slugger Award. Winning the home run crown at the age of 22 made him the youngest player to lead the majors since Johnny Bench in 1970.
In 1993, González broke through to true stardom. He led the AL for the second consecutive year with 46 bombs, while raising his batting average an impressive 50 points to .310, all this to go along with a league-leading slugging percentage of .632. That production garnered González an invite to his first All-Star team. During the 1993 All-Star Weekend, he participated in the only Home Run Derby of his career. González and Ken Griffey Jr. put on an amazing display of raw-power, as they each golfed 7 homers a piece. González, however, wowed the national audience even more, becoming the first player to hit a homer into the facade of the upper deck in left field (estimated 473 feet) at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the green wall behind the center-field fence (estimated 455 feet). González then defeated Griffey in a winner-take-all playoff for the individual Home Run Derby title, 5–4. When asked about the title, González responded: "It was very exciting to surprise everybody. I never thought in my mind that I'd win the Home Run Derby. I even surprised myself." He also finished fourth in voting for the 1993 AL MVP and earned his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award.
In 1994, the Rangers moved from Arlington Stadium to The Ballpark in Arlington. González batted 19 home runs in 1994 during the strike-shortened season, but belted 27 home runs in 1995, in just 90 games.
From 1995–98, González was an RBI machine, averaging more than an RBI per game (514 RBI, 511 games). This made him the first player since World War II to drive in a run per game for any four-year period. He won two MVP awards in this stretch (1996 and 1998). The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract listed him as the player who had the highest ratio of slugging percentage to on-base percentage in baseball history at that time, ahead of Dave Kingman and Tony Armas and 4th in RBI per game by an outfielder (behind Sam Thompson, Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth). James also ranked González as the 52nd-best right fielder in baseball history as of mid-2000.
In 1996, González had one of his best seasons hitting .314 with a .643 slugging percentage. He edged Alex Rodríguez by one first-place vote (11–10) and 3 award points (290–287) in a very close vote to win the American League MVP. He won his third Silver Slugger as an outfielder and was second in the AL in slugging (87 points behind McGwire). He was selected to the Associated Press Major League All-Star Team and The Sporting News AL All-Star squad at season's end. González was also named the Puerto Rico Pro Athlete of the Year by Associated Press and the DFW Metroplex Pro Athlete of the Year by the Dallas All Sports Association. He received the honorable selection of American League Player of the Month in July, leading the majors in batting (.407), homers (15), RBI (38), slugging (.917) and total bases (99). González was also the AL Player of the Week for July 29 – August 4. González had a pair of 21-game hitting streaks, June 25 – July 19 and August 8–31, matching the 3rd longest hitting streaks in team history with Mickey Rivers (1980) being the only other Ranger with 2 20-game hitting streaks in the same season. On July 30, González went 5–5 vs. New York, a career best and tied the club record for hits in a game. González was also chosen as a member of the Major League Baseball All-Star Team that traveled to Japan for an eight game exhibition series in November, batting .500 (10–20) with one homer and 3 RBI in 7 games. That year, the Texas Rangers made the playoffs, and in the 1996 American League Division Series, González homered five times in four games and batted .438/.526/1.375 with 9 RBI. Texas ended up losing in four games to the New York Yankees. González tied Jeffrey Leonard's 1987 NLCS record by homering in four straight post-season games and joined Reggie Jackson and Ken Griffey Jr. as the only players to hit five home runs in a single post-season series. González, however, accomplished this feet in less games (4) than Leonard, Jackson and Griffey Jr; all of whom needed at least 5 games to accomplish said feat. Combining the regular season and postseason, González hit .315 with 52 home runs, 153 RBIs, and .664 slugging percentage in 1996.
In 1997, González batted .296/.335/.589 as a DH-RF for the Rangers, winning his fourth Silver Slugger Award. In 133 games he was 4th in slugging, 6th in total bases (314), third in homers (42) and RBI (131), 10th in extra-base hits (69) and tied for 6th with 10 sacrifice flies. González missed the first month of the season and was not activated from the DL until May 2 due to a torn ligament in his left thumb. Despite the injury he still managed to earn American League Player of the Month honors in September (.337, 10 home runs, 26 RBI) and was the Rangers Player of the Month in both August and September. González was selected to Baseball America's American League All-Star Team.
In 1998, he reached the 100 RBI mark before the All-Star break (101), being the first player (and still most recent) to do so since Hank Greenberg 63 years earlier. He hit cleanup for the AL in the 1998 All-Star Game and decisively won the AL MVP award. González was 10th in the 1998 AL in batting average, second in slugging, fourth in OPS, 6th in hits (193), 4th in total bases (382), first in doubles (50), tied for fourth in home runs (45), first in RBI (157) in 154 games, tied for 8th in OPS+ (149), second in extra-base hits (97), tied for third in sac flies (11), tied for sixth in intentional walks (9) and tied for third in double plays ground into (20). In April, he drove in 35 runs, a major league record for the month that still stands today. González produced the 5th season ever of at least 50 doubles and 40 home runs. González started 115 games in Right and 36 as the DH.
González became the 1st 5-time winner of the Rangers Player of the Year Award and was also named as the AL's Most Valuable Player by USA Today and USA Today Baseball Weekly. González was selected to major league all-star teams selected by the Associated Press (OF) and Baseball America (DH) and to the Sporting News AL all-star squad (OF). He was named as an outfielder on the AL Silver Slugger Award team for the 5th time in his career, his 3rd consecutive year. González shared Rangers Player of the Month honors with Iván Rodríguez in April and won the award outright in May. González also received the American League Player of the Week, for August 31 – September 6. He received 21 of 28 1st place mvp votes and 7 2nd place votes for 357 total points to defeat Boston's Nomar Garciaparra, who had 5 1st place votes and 232 points. González also became the 1st native of Latin America to ever win multiple MVP's since the award was instituted in 1931. This award also made him the 16th player to capture 2 MVP's in a 3-year span. The Rangers reached the playoffs, only to be swept by the Yankees. The Rangers offense was miserable in the Division Series, scoring just one run on a Pudge Rodriguez single after doubling to lead off the inning.
In 1999, González was 9th in the AL in average, 4th in slugging, 6th in OPS, 10th in runs (114), 6th in total bases (338), 6th in home runs (39), 5th in RBI (128), 7th in extra-base hits (76) and 2nd in sacrifice flies (12). However, he and the Rangers wound up being swept for the second consecutive year by the Yankees in the Division Series. González wasn't able to do much in the 3-game series, hitting .182/.250/.455 with one home run, but his solo bomb was the only run the Rangers scored in the series.
González announced just before the 1999 All-Star Game that if the fans did not elect him to the starting lineup, he would refuse an invitation to be added to the roster (as a result he was not invited). González believed that the system was flawed; he thought the managers and players should vote for the starters. A few weeks later González didn't dress for the Hall of Fame exhibition game because (according to the media) the uniform pants the Rangers brought for him were too large. González later had this to say about the incident "I couldn't play because my right wrist was sore. The pants they gave me were size 40. I wear 34. They were clown pants."
=== Detroit Tigers (2000) ===
Following the 1999 season, with one year left on his contract, the slugger was traded by the Texas Rangers along with Danny Patterson and Gregg Zaun in a blockbuster nine-player deal with the Detroit Tigers for Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, Justin Thompson, and Alan Webb. He became the first two-time MVP to be traded since Dale Murphy was sent from Atlanta to Philadelphia in 1990. Detroit Tiger general manager Randy Smith was paying a high price for González by trading multiple young players, but he couldn't pass up on acquiring González, whom he referred to as "a two-time MVP and future Hall-of-Famer," even though González would more likely be a one-year rental (and was).
Gambling that they would be able to extend his contract past the 2000 season, the Tigers reportedly offered González an eight-year, $140 million contract soon after the deal was struck. González refused, which turned out to be the bigger gamble. He began the season badly, hobbled by foot pain and unable to adjust to the spacious dimensions of Detroit's new Comerica Park, where the left-center field fence stood nearly 400 feet from home plate (he did however hit the park's first home run on April 14). By mid-season he had announced that the Tigers would have to bring the fences in if they wanted to re-sign him as a free agent.
Detroit shopped González before the trading deadline, but a deal that would have sent him to the Yankees for outfielder Ricky Ledée and two minor leaguers was scuttled when the outfielder made it clear that he didn't want to play in New York. The Puerto Rico native stumbled through the rest of the season and saw his production dip to an all-time low (22 home runs, 67 RBI in 115 games). After missing the last weeks of the 2000 season, he was granted free agency on November 1.
=== Cleveland Indians (2001) ===
On January 9, 2001, he signed a one-year $10 million contract with the Cleveland Indians. González opened the season with a great start, batting .388 (40–103) with 9 homers and 32 RBIs in season's first 25 games through May 2. González completed the first half on a torrid pace. He was voted in as an All-Star starter and batted 5th in the 2001 All-Star Game. González hit .347 with 23 home runs and 83 RBI in 79 games in the first half.
He appeared to be on his way to easily capturing the RBI title, but an RBI drought at the end of the season (0 RBI in last 10 games) allowed Bret Boone to pass him by one. González hit over .300 in each of season's 1st 5 months before dropping to .299 for the month of September. His top months were .387 (36–93) in April and .356 (26–73) in July. González was hitting as high as .360 on June 5, then went 17–64 (.266) in next 17 contests, dropping to .338 through June 26. Had a .351 (73–208) mark in next 56 games and was at .344 overall, 2nd in the AL, through September 9. After this he hit just .130 (6–46) in final 13 games, going 3–34 (.088) in last 10 contests. González was hitless in his final 15 trips after his single on September 24. Despite his cold streak over the last week and a half of the season, he still finished with a .325/.370/.590 slash line and a 147 OPS+, close to his MVP seasons. He also won his sixth Silver Slugger and finished fifth in the MVP voting. His .325 average was one point shy of his career high (1999) and marked his 5th .300 season, his third in the last four years.
He was sixth in the 2001 AL in batting average, 5th in slugging, 6th in OPS, 9th in home runs (35), second in RBI (140, (in 140 games) one behind leader Bret Boone), 8th in OPS+, tied for third in double plays grounded into (18) and led the league with 16 sacrifice flies. González was also a 2nd team selection on Baseball America's Major League all-star squad and was named as the Indians player of the year by Baseball America. This proved to be the last season in which González averaged an RBI a game. Although González finished the regular season rather slowly, he showed up in a big way in the playoffs where he hit .348/.348/.739 for Cleveland in the Division Series with 3 doubles, 2 homers and 5 RBI in 5 games. Despite this Cleveland still fell in defeat.
González had a season best 15-game hitting streak from August 29 – September 19 at .345 (20–58) and hit safely in 10 straight games from April 17–27. González also had a 4 hit game April 11 at the Chicago White Sox. González batted .368 (43–117) vs. left-handers, 3rd best in the AL and had a .335 (53–158) mark with runners in scoring position, the 8th highest. As the DH, he hit .392 (31–79), this was the highest average in AL among players with 35 or more DH at bats, with 8 homers and 33 RBI in 21 games.
Through 11 full major league seasons (1991-2001), González had 392 homers and 1,263 RBI, an average of 36 homers and 115 RBI per year. His RBI total was the most in MLB in during that time frame by 40, despite having 1,000 fewer plate appearances than the player with the second-most RBIs for the time period, Jeff Bagwell (who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017).
=== Second stint with Texas Rangers (2002–2003) ===
On January 8, 2002, González made his return to Arlington by signing a two-year $24 million contract with the Texas Rangers. He hit .282/.324/.451 (94 OPS+) the first year in 70 games. On June 18, he participated in the first MLB game ever with four players with 400+ home runs to that point. Rafael Palmeiro and Fred McGriff joined Sosa and González in a game which Texas lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4–3. His first season back in Arlington he had a .358 (29–81) average versus Lefties and hit .328 (21–64) with runners in scoring position while posting a .307 mark(42–137) in Arlington. He hit just .171 (6–35) with 2 homers and 4 RBI as the DH. He had Texas' only hit, a leadoff double in the 8th, off Cory Lidle on July 19 at Oakland.
In 2003, González started the first few weeks rather slowly. He had a .230 average with 4 homers and 8 RBI in his first 18 games through April 20. He quickly picked it up though and went on a .349 (29–83) tear with 9 homers and 24 RBI in his next 21 games, improving to .293 by May 5. As of May 7, González was tied for the Major League Lead in home runs with 12. He followed that up by going just 8-for-39 (.205) in his next 9 games, falling to .276 through May 25. He started a hot streak yet again though by hitting .321 (42–131) with 10 homers and 36 RBI in the next 34 games. But his season was cut short by a tear in his calf muscle on July 19. At the time, González was hitting .294 and ranked 3rd in home runs (24) 4th in slugging percentage (.572) and 7th in RBI (70) in the AL. González was on pace to recapture his 2001 Indians form, but the tear lingered and the injury proved to be the end of his season.
González hit 2 homers in a game 4 times: April 5 vs. Seattle; April 29 and May 1 at Toronto and July 10 against Minnesota. His 47 career multi-homer games are 12th most all-time. He also hammered 5 homers in 3 games, April 29 – May 1 at Toronto, the 4th time in Rangers history that feat had been accomplished. He had a season best 5 RBI on April 29 at Toronto and drove in 4 runs in a game on 3 occasions. González had 18 RBI in a 9-game span, April 22 – May 1, including 10 in 3-game series at Toronto, April 29 – May 1. He was selected as AL co-player of the week for April 28 – May 4. He also had a season high 9-game hitting streak, June 3–17.
He started 57 games in right field and 24 games as the designated hitter. He did not make an error in 108 total chances in the outfield and was tied for 6th in the league in outfield assists (10), despite his short season. He ranked 5th on the club in home runs (24), and completed his 11th season with 20 or more home runs. The Rangers, however, were preparing for a youth movement and on October 26, 2003, he was granted free agency.
=== Kansas City Royals (2004) ===
On January 6, 2004, González was signed by the Kansas City Royals to a one-year, $4.5 million deal with an option for the next season. However, his back worsened in the middle of May and his season came to an end after May 21. He ended up hitting .276/.326/.441 with five home runs and 17 RBI in 33 games. The Royals declined to renew his option, making him a free agent.
=== Second stint with Cleveland Indians (2005) ===
He was signed by the Cleveland Indians for the 2005 season, and was activated in May. Despite a thorough workout regimen, González suffered a major hamstring injury (he tore his right medial hamstring totally off the bone at the knee joint) in his first plate appearance of the season while running out a grounder. This put him out for the season after just one at-bat.
González signed on with the independent Atlantic League in 2006, playing for the Long Island Ducks. He hit .323/.377/.515 in 36 games, with 6 home runs and 23 RBI. His time was again limited by injuries.
The St. Louis Cardinals invited González to spring training prior to the 2008 season. He was one of 26 non-roster invitees, participating in full roster workouts that began on February 19, 2008. He hit .308 with a .462 slugging percentage in spring training with 1 home run, 1 double and 5 RBI in 9 games. However, he was put on the inactive list with an abdominal strain and he returned to Puerto Rico with an invitation to rejoin the Cardinals once he was healthy. González decided to stay in Puerto Rico, and did not rejoin the Cardinals.
In June 2013, González was invited to become a member of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. He declined the invitation at the time, saying, "I closed the Texas Rangers chapter in my life a long time ago." A couple years later, though, he accepted the invitation and was inducted on July 11, 2015. González is the Rangers' all-time leader with 372 home runs, 1,180 RBIs and a .565 slugging percentage. His 157 RBIs in 1998 and .643 slugging percentage in 1996 are also club records. González ranks in the top 5 in club history in almost every other major offensive category.
=== Career statistics ===
In four American League Division Series covering 15 games, González hit .290 (18-for-62) scoring 11 runs, with 8 home runs and 15 RBI.
== Career in Puerto Rico ==
In the 1989–1990 Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, González hit .269/~.345/.500 for the Criollos de Caguas and hit 9 home runs, one less than former league leader Greg Vaughn.
During the 1992–1993 season, he batted .333 for the Santurce Crabbers and won the league MVP award despite not playing until after the All-Star break. He hit 7 home runs and led the league despite playing in only 66 games. González did not accompany Santurce to the 1993 Caribbean Series. The next season, he ended up hitting .268 with 7 homers, 3 behind Phil Hiatt.
In 1995, González joined the San Juan Senators for the 1995 Caribbean Series and hit .375 with 6 RBI as the Puerto Rican "Dream Team" won the title. González hit 5th, between Carlos Delgado and Rubén Sierra on a team that also boasted Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, Carlos Baerga and Edgar Martínez. San Juan outscored their opponents 49–15.
During the 2006–2007 Puerto Rican League, in 33 games playing for the champion Carolina Giants, González hit .281 with 18 RBIs and 4 homers. In 12 playoff games, he batted .369 with 3 home runs and 5 RBIs. González claims he is healthy and no longer feels pain in his legs. He was 10 for 26 (.385) in the 2007 Caribbean Series and made the All-Star team at DH.
Presently, he is the owner of the baseball team in his hometown, Vega Baja, in the Confederative Baseball League in Puerto Rico, where he also plays as a DH. Aside from baseball, he focuses on helping the community, with the condition that no attention from the media occurs when he becomes involved in a cause, stating "What value does it have to help someone and then publicizing it in newspapers? That is not giving. I help, but I ask them to please not say anything."
For the 2015-2016 season, González served as coach of the Double A Vega Baja team, the Caimanes del Melao Melao. However, after a 3-11 record, he was fired.
== Steroid allegations ==
González was one of several players whom Jose Canseco claimed to have introduced to steroids. Canseco made these allegations in his best-seller, Juiced, but without citing any corroborating evidence. González was also briefly mentioned in the Mitchell Report regarding a 2001 incident in which an unmarked bag in the Indians' team luggage was detained by customs in Toronto, Canada. González's assistant stated that the bag belonged to Angel Presinal, a prominent personal trainer for a number of professional players, but Presinal claimed that the bag belonged to González. It was also disputed whether or not the bag actually contained steroids. Although Presinal claimed the bag was not his, he said that he was aware of its contents and that they were not, in fact, steroids. He stated that the bag contained Soladek (a vitamin D shot used to fight the flu), Dolo-neurobion (painkiller), and Clenbuterol (a stimulant similar to ephedrine, which is believed by some to promote muscle tone and weight loss). González immediately cut ties with the trainer following the incident. In 2007, ESPN published an article about Presinal on its website, describing him as "fitness guru, massage therapist and personal trainer to baseball's Latino elite." In the same article, ESPN asked John Hart, the Indians' former general manager, about the 2001 incident involving Presinal. Hart said that the team looked into the matter and ultimately exonerated Gonzalez.
In 2007, Rangers' owner Tom Hicks speculated that González had used steroids, saying in an interview that the team had acquired "Juan González for $24 million after he came off steroids, probably, we just gave that money away." Hicks later acknowledged that his statement was not based on personal knowledge, only a suspicion that steroids were the cause of injuries: "The way his body broke down at a young age and his early retirement makes me suspicious." Luis Mayoral, a former Ranger employee and good friend of González, reasoned that Hicks' comments were why González declined his first invitation to join the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2013. Instead, he was inducted in 2015.
Like his former teammate, hall-of-famer Iván Rodríguez, who was also accused of steroid use, González has consistently stated over the years that he has never taken steroids, and is, in fact, a vegetarian. "I have nothing to hide," said González. "Nothing. And I offered to be tested, whenever they wanted. If you have nothing to hide, there is nothing to worry [about]," González said. In Rodriguez's case, similar unproven allegations from baseball's "steroid era" did not prevent him from being elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
== Personal life ==
González has been married four times. He was married to Puerto Rican volleyball player Elaine López, sister of fellow major leaguer Javy López, during the early 1990s. This marriage broke down when a local newspaper released a cover photo of singer Olga Tañón kissing González during a concert in San Juan. A scandal followed, with González divorcing Elaine López and marrying Tañón, who said she had no idea González was married to Lopez when she kissed him. González and Tañon had a daughter together, Gabriela González Tañón, in 1996. They got married in December 1999. González and Tañon divorced less than two years later. His daughter later became one of only 50 people in the world (and the first Puerto Rican) ever to have been diagnosed with Sebastian syndrome, a mild blood clotting disorder.
González has a friendship with George W. Bush, which began when González debuted with the Texas Rangers, who at the time were owned by Bush.
González stated that "a friendship that goes beyond baseball was created between them" and during his time in office Bush invited González to the White House twice. The first of reunions took place on April 16, 2001 and the second on December 3, 2007; in this reunion he was accompanied by historian Luis Rodriguez Mayoral. The discussion lasted 35 minutes and involved González's future in the Major Leagues and other baseball related topics, as well as the happenings of their respective careers. During this visit to Washington, D.C. González was also involved in a meeting with Rudy Giuliani and a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in order to visit Puerto Rican soldiers that were injured in the Iraq War.
After a history of personal setbacks, González stated in a 2007 interview that his personal life was now in order. "I'd rather have health and my family, my relationship with God than money," he said. "How many people who can buy whatever they want have committed suicide? God is first, then your kids, your family, good health."
== Managerial career ==
=== Puerto Rico ===
After serving as a coach in 2017, González was named manager and head coach of the Puerto Rico national baseball team in 2018, leading the team to gold medals in both 2018 and 2019.
González made his debut as manager at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (CACG). Unable to request athletes contracted to MLB (or active in MiLB), González assembled a team consisting of players active in foreign independent leagues, the local Double A amateur league, and veteran free agents with previous professional experience, making the final cut following a preparatory tournament. González made his official debut as manager in a 5-3 victory over Venezuela. In its next outing, Puerto Rico defeated Cuba 8-1 to snap Cuba's 36-year (43-game) winning streak at the CACG. This was followed by wins over the Dominican Republic (4-1) and Mexico (7-1). González closed his first participation as manager by leading Puerto Rico to the CACG gold medal, defeating second-place Colombia 2-1.
In 2019, González found continued success by guiding Puerto Rico to win gold at the 2019 Lima Pan American Games, going undefeated and besting Canada 6-1 in the final. This was Puerto Rico's first-ever gold medal in baseball in the history of the Pan American Games.
Also in 2019, the Puerto Rican Baseball Federation announced that González would be the manager of the Puerto Rican National Team in November’s WBSC Premier12, the biggest international baseball event of the year, in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. González was named Puerto Rico's manager for the 2025 edition of the Copa América.
== Accomplishments ==
2-time American League MVP (1996, 1998)
5-time Top-10 MVP (4th, 1993; 1st, 1996; 9th, 1997; 1st, 1998; 5th, 2001)
3-time All-Star (1993, 1998, 2001)
5 40+ HR Seasons (1992, 43; 1993, 46; 1996, 47; 1997, 42; 1998, 45) and 1 39-HR Season (1999)
His .561 slugging percentage ranks 15th on the all-time list
His 434 career home runs rank 47th on the all-time list
Ranks 4th all-time in plate appearances/HR with 16.49 (No. 1 Mark McGwire – 13.14, No. 2 Babe Ruth – 14.87, No. 3 Sammy Sosa – 16.25)
Ranks 5th all-time in HR/162 games with 42
Ranks 5th all-time in TB/162 games with 353
Ranks 6th all-time in RBI/162 games with 135
Ranks 6th all-time in XBH/162 games with 81
Ranks 12th all-time in career multi-homer games
Ranks 15th all-time in AB per HR with 15.1 AB/HR
6 Silver Slugger awards (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001)
2-time Major League Home Run Champion (1992, 1993)
Finished Top 5 in RBI 6 times (1993, 4th, 118; 1996, 2nd, 144; 1997, 3rd, 131; 1998, 1st, 157; 1999, 5th, 128; 2001, 2nd, 140)
Finished Top 5 in slugging percentage 7 times (1992, 5th, .561; 1993, 1st, .632; 1996, 2nd, .643; 1997, 4th, .589; 1998, 2nd, .630; 1999, 4th, .601; 2001, 5th, .590)
Became just the second player in major league history to have at least 100 RBI before the All-Star break (101 in 1998, second to Hank Greenberg who had 103)
Holds all-time record for RBI in the month of April (35 in 1998)
One of only six players after 1950 with over 150 RBI in a single season
Hit his 300th home run in the fewest games in American League history (1,096)
9th Youngest ever to hit 300 Career HR (28 years, 334 days)
Tied for 1st in postseason history for HR in a single division series with Ken Griffey Jr., but in fewer games (Gonzalez – 5 HR in 4 games in 1996, Griffey – 5 HR in 5 games in 1995)
Tied for 2nd in most HR in a single playoff series with 5 HR in just 4 games in 1996. (Reggie Jackson 1977, 5 HR in 6 Games; Chase Utley 2009, 5 HR in 6 Games; Ken Griffey Jr. 1995, 5 HR in 5 Games; Nelson Cruz 2011, 6 HR in 6 games)
Ranks 2nd in postseason history in slugging percentage in a single playoff series (1.375 in 1996)
Ranks 2nd in postseason history in OPS in a single Division Series (1.901 in 1996)
Ranks 5th in postseason history in OPS in a single playoff series among qualified leaders (1.901 in 1996)
Tied for 2nd with 10 other players in extra base hits in a single Division Series (5 in 1996 & 2001)
Ranks 3rd in postseason history in total bases in a single Division Series (22 in 1996)
Ranks 7th in postseason history in RBI in a single Division Series (9 in 1996)
Tied for 2nd in postseason history in career HR in the Division Series (8 HR)
Ranks 4th in postseason history in career slugging percentage in the Division Series (.742)
Ranks 7th in postseason history in career extra base hits in the Division Series (12)
Ranks 8th in postseason history in career OPS in the Division Series (1.075) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Vox#Studio_albums | Baby Vox#Studio albums | Baby V.O.X (Korean: 베이비복스) was a South Korean girl group formed in 1997, whose final and best-known line-up consisted of Kim E-Z, Lee Hee-jin, Shim Eun-jin, Kan Mi-youn, and Yoon Eun-hye. It is considered one of the most prominent "first generation" K-pop girl groups of the late 1990s and early 2000s, along with S.E.S. and Fin.K.L, and is recognized as one of the groups at the forefront of the Korean Wave, having broken into the Chinese market. The group released seven studio albums and disbanded in 2006.
On December 20, 2024, Baby V.O.X reunited for the first time in 14 years with a performance at the 2024 KBS Song Festival.
== History ==
=== 1997–1999: Debut and early years ===
Baby V.O.X formed in 1997 as a five-member group consisting of Kim E-Z, Lee Hee-jin, Jung Hyun-jeon, Cha Yu-mi and Jung Shi-woon. The group's first single, "Hair Cut", was taken from the album Equalizeher, released on July 10, 1997. The group displayed a style inspired by the Spice Girls, but the first album was not successful because of the edgy concept. Cha Yumi was injured during a performance, so she was then replaced by Kan Miyoun. Hyun-jeon and Shi-woon left the group because of an internal conflict and they were replaced by Shim Eun Jin and Lee Gai. The group adopted a more modest style, used by popular groups such as S.E.S. and Fin.K.L. From their second album Baby V.O.X II, the single "Ya Ya Ya" became a success, reaching number seven on the Korean pop charts. It was followed by a second single, "Change". Following the release, Lee Gai departed, as the agency DR Music had falsified her age by nearly 10 years, leading to controversy when her true birth year was disclosed. She had first appeared with the trio Setorae over ten years before under her birth name of Lee Hee-jung.
=== 1999–2003: Breakthrough years and mainstream success ===
In June 1999, Yoon Eun Hye replaced Lee Gai to create a stable line-up. The single "Get Up" was released. For the first time, the group reached number one on the South Korean music pop charts. Another single, "Killer", was also number one and received the Top Excellency Award in the Seoul Music Awards in 1999. The third single, "Missing You", was also included on their third album Come Come Come Baby (1999).
In the years that followed, Baby VOX made a number of appearances in variety shows. After the success of the third album, the group toured internationally, including in China, Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. The fourth album, Why, included the singles "Why" and "배신" (Betrayal), and the group hosted the television program Beautiful Sunday-Cruise to the Korea Strait. The group's fifth album, Boyish Story, was released in 2001 and included the singles "Game Over", "인형" (Doll) and "I Wish You are My Love".
The group released a compilation album with singles "우연" (Coincidence) and "Go". "Coincidence" was the group's first number one single in three years. "Coincidence" was re-released for the 2002 World Cup and gained additional popularity. The group held a concert in Mongolia in 2004, the first South Korean idol band to do so. The group also performed in Pyongyang, North Korea in 2003, and was the second girl group to perform in North Korea.
=== 2003–2006: Final albums and separation ===
In spring 2003, Baby VOX released a sixth album, Devotion. Baby VOX topped the Chinese music chart with the Chinese single "I'm Still Loving You" and the South Korean charts with "What Should I Do".
The group's seventh and final album, Ride West, released in April 2004, had songs in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, as well as appearances by well-known American hip hop artists such as Tupac Shakur and Jennifer Lopez and the independent rapper Floss P, although Tupac's "appearance" was a freestyle rap that he recorded while in prison. The rights for the sample of Tupac's verse were not cleared, and this resulted in a court case pursued by the rapper's mother, Afeni Shakur. A music video for the album's feature song, "Xcstasy", was made in English and emulated the hip-hop videos popular in the United States at the time. A member of the South Korean hip-hop group DJ DOC, offended by the alleged misuse of Tupac Shakur's lyrics, denounced them in the media but later apologized. The group was forced to abandon the release of the single. A second single, "Play Remix" featuring Jennifer Lopez, was promoted for a short while, but sales were lower than from its previous albums.
Shim Eun-jin officially left the group in October 2004 and Yoon Eun-hye in April 2005. By May 2005 the group was no longer performing, and it officially disbanded in February 2006.
=== 2010: Reunion ===
In August 2010, Baby V.O.X reunited for an appearance on the music talk show Kim Jung-eun's Chocolate, marking their first group activity in six years after effectively disbanding in 2004.
=== 2024–present: Reunion stage and New Baby V.O.X 2025 ===
Baby V.O.X reunited again after 14 years in December 2024 with a performance on the KBS annual music show KBS Song Festival.
On January 17, 2025, according to Osen's reporting, Baby V.O.X would appear on a variety show for the first time in 14 years. On January 23, Baby V.O.X will participate in the MBC entertainment program Omniscient Interfering View. On February 1, during an episode of Mr. House Husband 2, member Yoon Eun-hye revealed that the group would soon release re-recorded versions of some of their past songs. On February 13, the group released the single album New Baby V.O.X 2025, featuring re-recorded versions of "Killer" and "Coincidence". On July 15, 2025, Baby V.O.X announced through their official social media account that they will host a solo concert at the Peace Hall of Kyung Hee University in Seoul on September 26 and 27 and this concert will take place about 23 years after their first solo concert in South Korea.
On March 6, 2026, Baby V.O.X announced they will hold a solo concert at the Pechanga Summit Event Center in Los Angeles on April 25 and it is their first solo concert in United States since their debut.
== Style and influence ==
Baby VOX has consistently stated that they were inspired by the Spice Girls, who led the girl power movement in the UK during their early days, and since the late 1990s, they have been the first South Korean girl group to attempt sex appeal by adopting the R&B and pop styles popularized by groups like TLC. The Wall Street Journal described them as "the Asian version of the Spice Girls", and Japan's Mainichi Shimbun introduced them as "expected to cause a tectonic shift in the Japanese music industry". Domestic music industry insiders have stated that "Baby Vox is considered to have laid the groundwork for today's girl groups. They were a girl group ahead of their time, such as the first girl group to hold a concert in China", solidifying their influence. In 2014, Billboard selected Baby VOX as a K-pop girl group you should know.
=== Significance and impact towards K-pop ===
Their first album, which made its major debut on July 3, 1997, contained a feminist message. This was a topic that was unimaginable at the time, and unlike other girl groups that imitated Japanese girl groups such as Speed, they took advantage of POP and promoted themselves as the "Spice Girls of Asia".
== Members ==
=== Final members ===
Kim E-Z – Leader, Main Rapper, Main Dancer, Sub Vocalist (1997–2006, 2024-present)
Lee Hee-jin – Lead Vocalist, Face of the Group (1997–2006, 2024-present)
Shim Eun-jin – Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer (1998–2004, 2024-present)
Kan Mi-youn – Main Vocalist, Visual (1997–2006, 2024-present)
Yoon Eun-hye – Sub Vocalist, Maknae (1999–2005, 2024-present)
=== Former members ===
Cha Yumi - Main Vocalist (1997)
Jung Hyun-jeon - Leader, Lead Vocalist (1997-1998)
Jung Shi-woon - Rapper, Vocalist (1997-1998)
Lee Gai - Sub Vocalist (1998–1999)
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
=== Compilation albums ===
=== Extended plays ===
=== Single albums ===
== Awards and nominations ==
== Future generations ==
On December 26, 2006, DR Music unveiled the members of the second generation Baby V.O.X, a spinoff group called "Baby V.O.X. Re.V" (pronounced "reeve"). Like the original group, there is one lead vocalist, three "sub-vocalists" and a singer/rapper.
RaNia debuted in April 2011 after being originally scheduled in mid-2010. However, the company, DR Music decided to rebrand the group as a new group with eight members. RaNia is the third generation of Baby V.O.X. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Lazarus | Emma Lazarus | Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet "The New Colossus", which was inspired by the Statue of Liberty, in 1883. Its lines appear inscribed on a bronze plaque, installed in 1903, on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus was involved in aiding refugees to New York who had fled antisemitic pogroms in eastern Europe, and she saw a way to express her empathy for these refugees in terms of the statue. The last lines of the sonnet were set to music by Irving Berlin as the song "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor" for the 1949 musical Miss Liberty, which was based on the sculpting of the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World). The latter part of the sonnet was also set by Lee Hoiby in his song "The Lady of the Harbor" written in 1985 as part of his song cycle "Three Women".
Lazarus was also the author of Poems and Translations (New York, 1867); Admetus, and other Poems (1871); Alide: An Episode of Goethe's Life (Philadelphia, 1874); Poems and Ballads of Heine (New York, 1881); Poems, 2 Vols.; Narrative, Lyric and Dramatic; as well as Jewish Poems and Translations.
== Early years and education ==
Emma Lazarus was born in New York City, July 22, 1849, into a large Jewish family. She was the fourth of seven children of Moses Lazarus, a wealthy merchant and sugar refiner, and Esther Nathan (of a long-established German-Jewish New York family). One of her great-grandfathers on the Lazarus side was from Germany; the rest of her Lazarus ancestors were originally from Portugal and they were among the original twenty-three Portuguese Jews who arrived in New Amsterdam after they fled Recife, Brazil, in an attempt to flee from the Inquisition. Lazarus's great-great-grandmother on her mother's side, Grace Seixas Nathan (born in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1752) was also a poet. Lazarus was related through her mother to Benjamin N. Cardozo, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her siblings included sisters Josephine, Sarah, Mary, Agnes and Annie, and a brother, Frank.
Privately educated by tutors from an early age, she studied American and British literature as well as several languages, including German, French, and Italian. She was attracted in youth to poetry, writing her first lyrics when she was eleven years old.
== Career ==
=== Writer ===
The first stimulus for Lazarus's writing was offered by the American Civil War. A collection of her Poems and Translations, verses written between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, appeared in 1867 (New York), and was commended by William Cullen Bryant. It included translations from Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich Heine, Alexandre Dumas, and Victor Hugo. Admetus and Other Poems followed in 1871. The title poem was dedicated "To my friend Ralph Waldo Emerson", whose works and personality were exercising an abiding influence upon the poet's intellectual growth. During the next decade, in which "Phantasies" and "Epochs" were written, her poems appeared chiefly in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine and Scribner's Monthly.
By this time, Lazarus's work had won recognition abroad. Her first prose production, Alide: An Episode of Goethe's Life, a romance treating of the Friederike Brion incident, was published in 1874 (Philadelphia), and was followed by The Spagnoletto (1876), a tragedy. Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heine (New York, 1881) followed, and was prefixed by a biographical sketch of Heine; Lazarus's renderings of some of Heine's verse are considered among the best in English. In the same year, 1881, she became friends with Rose Hawthorne Lathrop. In April 1882, Lazarus published in The Century Magazine the article "Was the Earl of Beaconsfield a Representative Jew?" Her statement of the reasons for answering this question in the affirmative may be taken to close what may be termed the Hellenic and journeyman period of Lazarus's life, during which her subjects were drawn from classic and romantic sources.
Lazarus also wrote The Crowing of the Red Cock, and the sixteen-part cycle poem "Epochs". In addition to writing her own poems, Lazarus edited many adaptations of German poems, notably those of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich Heine. She also wrote a novel and two plays in five acts, The Spagnoletto, a tragic verse drama about the titular figure and The Dance to Death, a dramatization of a German short story about the burning of Jews in Nordhausen during the Black Death. During the time Lazarus became interested in her Jewish roots, she continued her purely literary and critical work in magazines with such articles as "Tommaso Salvini", "Salvini's 'King Lear'", "Emerson's Personality", "Heine, the Poet", "A Day in Surrey with William Morris", and others.
Lines from her sonnet "The New Colossus" appear on a bronze plaque which was placed in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. The sonnet was written in 1883 and donated to an auction, conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty" in order to raise funds to build the pedestal. Lazarus's close friend Rose Hawthorne Lathrop was inspired by "The New Colossus" to found the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
She traveled twice to Europe, first in 1883 and again from 1885 to 1887. On one of those trips, Georgiana Burne-Jones, the wife of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones, introduced her to William Morris at her home. She also met with Henry James, Robert Browning and Thomas Huxley during her European travels. A collection of Poems in Prose (1887) was her last book. Her Complete Poems with a Memoir appeared in 1888, at Boston.
=== Activism ===
Lazarus was a friend and admirer of the American political economist Henry George. She believed deeply in Georgist economic reforms and became active in the "single tax" movement for land value tax. Lazarus published a poem in the New York Times named after George's book, Progress and Poverty.
Lazarus became more interested in her Jewish ancestry as she heard of the Russian pogroms that followed the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. As a result of this antisemitic violence, and the poor standard of living in Russia in general, thousands of destitute Ashkenazi Jews emigrated from the Russian Pale of Settlement to New York. Lazarus began to advocate on behalf of indigent Jewish immigrants. She helped establish the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York to provide vocational training to assist destitute Jewish immigrants to become self-supporting. Lazarus volunteered as well in the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society employment bureau, although she eventually criticized its organization. In 1883, she founded the Society for the Improvement and Colonization of East European Jews.
The literary fruits of identification with her religion were poems like "The Crowing of the Red Cock", "The Banner of the Jew", "The Choice", "The New Ezekiel", "The Dance to Death" (a strong, though unequally executed drama), and her last published work (March 1887), "By the Waters of Babylon: Little Poems in Prose", which constituted her strongest claim to a foremost rank in American literature. During the same period (1882–87), Lazarus translated the Hebrew poets of medieval Spain with the aid of the German versions of Michael Sachs and Abraham Geiger, and wrote articles, signed and unsigned, upon Jewish subjects for the Jewish press, besides essays on "Bar Kochba", "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", "M. Renan and the Jews", and others for Jewish literary associations. Several of her translations from medieval Hebrew writers found a place in the ritual of American synagogues.
Lazarus's most notable series of articles was that titled "An Epistle to the Hebrews" (The American Hebrew, November 10, 1882 – February 24, 1883), in which she discussed the Jewish problems of the day, urged a technical and a Jewish education for Jews, and ranged herself among the advocates of an independent Jewish nationality and of Jewish repatriation in Palestine. Some scholars consider her to be one of the forerunners of Zionism. The only collection of poems issued during this period was Songs of a Semite: The Dance to Death and Other Poems (New York, 1882), dedicated to the memory of George Eliot.
== Death and legacy ==
Lazarus returned to New York City seriously ill after she completed her second trip to Europe, and she died two months later, on November 19, 1887, most likely from Hodgkin's lymphoma. She never married. Lazarus was buried in Beth Olam Cemetery in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. The Poems of Emma Lazarus (2 vols., Boston and New York, 1889) was published after her death, comprising most of her poetic work from previous collections, periodical publications, and some of the literary heritage which her executors deemed appropriate to preserve for posterity. Her papers are kept by the American Jewish Historical Society, Center for Jewish History, and her letters are collected at Columbia University.
The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs, founded in 1951, was named after Lazarus.
A stamp featuring the Statue of Liberty and Lazarus's poem "The New Colossus" was issued by Antigua and Barbuda in 1985. In 1992, she was named as a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project. Lazarus was honored by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in March 2008, and her home on West 10th Street was included on a map of Women's Rights Historic Sites. In 2009, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. The Museum of Jewish Heritage featured an exhibition about Lazarus in 2012. The Emma Lazarus Art and Music Venue, as well as a park are named in her honor in Carrick, a neighborhood on the South Side of Pittsburgh.
== Style and themes ==
Lazarus contributed toward shaping the self-image of the United States as well as how the country understands the needs of those who immigrated to the United States. Her themes produced sensitivity and enduring lessons regarding immigrants and their need for dignity. What was needed to make her a poet of the people as well as one of literary merit was a great theme, the establishment of instant communication between some stirring reality and her still hidden and irresolute subjectivity. Such a theme was provided by the immigration of Russian Jews to America, consequent upon the proscriptive May Laws of 1882. She rose to the defense of her ethnic compatriots in powerful articles, as contributions to The Century (May 1882 and February 1883). Hitherto, her life had held no Jewish inspiration. Though of Sephardic ancestry, and ostensibly Orthodox in belief, her family had till then not participated in the activities of the synagogue or of the Jewish community. Contact with the unfortunates from Russia led her to study the Torah, the Hebrew language, Judaism, and Jewish history. While her early poetry demonstrated no Jewish themes, her Songs of a Semite (1882) is considered to be the earliest volume of Jewish American poetry.
A review of Alide by Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was critical of Lazarus's style and elements of technique. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_200_number-one_albums_of_1999#:~:text=Millennium%20became%20the%20best%2Dselling,nomination%20at%20the%20Grammy%20Awards. | List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1999#:~:text=Millennium became the best-selling,nomination at the Grammy Awards. | The Billboard 200, published in Billboard magazine, is a weekly chart that ranks the highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States. These data are compiled by Nielsen SoundScan from a database of merchants that represents more than 90% of the U.S. music retail market. The sample includes not only music stores and the music departments at electronics and department stores, but also direct-to-consumer transactions and internet sales (both physical albums and the ones bought via digital downloads).
There were 23 number-one albums on this chart in 1999, including Garth Brook's Double Live which, starting in early December 1998, spent a consecutive run of five weeks at the top of the chart. Rapper DMX' Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood debuted at number one, making it his second album that debuted at the top of the chart. Pop singer Britney Spears's first album ...Baby One More Time peaked at number one for six non-consecutive weeks. Certified as diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it made her the youngest artist that reach the ten million sales mark and the top selling female act of 1999. TLC's third album, Fanmail, the year's top selling hip-hop album, remained at number one for five weeks and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 42nd Grammy Awards.
I Am…, the third studio album by rapper Nas, stayed at the top of the chart for two weeks and has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin's eponymous set achieved sales of six million copies, making it the year's top-selling album by a solo male artist. Millennium by vocal group Backstreet Boys spent ten weeks at number one on the chart, selling 1,130,000 copies in its first week of release, establishing a new record for the largest sales in a single week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Millennium became the best-selling album of 1999, with sales of over 11 million copies. The album also received an Album of the Year and a Best Pop Vocal Album nomination at the Grammy Awards. Nu metal band Limp Bizkit released their second album Significant Other, which debuted at number one and sold over five million copies by the end of the year; this helped push Limp Bizkit's first album past the platinum mark. Pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera's self-titled debut album was released in August 1999. Its lead single "Genie in a Bottle" reached the top of the singles chart for five weeks, which helped the album reach the number one position in September, selling five million copies by January 2000.
Fly by the country group Dixie Chicks peaked at number one for two weeks, making them the first country group to reach the top of the Billboard 200; the album received the Grammy Award for Best Country Album. Human Clay, the second album by post-grunge band Creed, became a hit, entering the charts at number one and selling ten million copies over the next two years. Latin rock band Santana's Supernatural, was the longest-running number-one album of the year, topping the chart for twelve non-consecutive weeks, three of which were in 1999, making it his first number-one album in 28 years. The album sold five million copies in 1999 and won two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album and for Album of the Year.
Breathe, the fourth album by country artist Faith Hill, entered the charts at number one upon its release in late 1999. Its title track became Hill's biggest hit, topping the country and the adult contemporary singles charts; the album sold five million copies by the end of 2000 and won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards. Born Again by The Notorious B.I.G. was the second posthumous album by the rapper to reach number-one on the albums chart, and the seventh posthumous title to reach the top during the 1990s.
== Chart history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Olympic_Games | Summer Olympic Games | The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, are a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the Kingdom of Greece, and the most recent was held in 2024 in Paris, France. This was the first international multi-sport event of its kind, organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded by Pierre de Coubertin. The tradition of awarding medals began in 1904; in each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals for second place, and bronze medals for third place. The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympic Games, which are regarded as the largest and most prestigious multi-sport international event in the world.
The Summer Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition programme in 1896 with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations, to 339 events in 2021 (2020 Summer Olympics) with 11,319 competitors (almost half of whom were women) from 206 nations. The Games have been held in nineteen countries over five continents: four times in the United States (1904, 1932, 1984, and 1996), three times in Great Britain (1908, 1948, and 2012) and in France (1900, 1924, and 2024), twice each in Greece (1896 and 2004), Germany (1936 and 1972), Australia (1956 and 2000), and Japan (1964 and 2020), and once each in Sweden (1912), Belgium (1920), the Netherlands (1928), Finland (1952), Italy (1960), Mexico (1968), Canada (1976), Russia (1980), South Korea (1988), Spain (1992), China (2008), and Brazil (2016).
London and Paris have hosted three times, while Los Angeles, Athens, and Tokyo have each hosted twice; Los Angeles will host the Games for the third time in 2028. Only three countries have won at least one medal in every Summer Olympic Games: Australia, France and Great Britain. Only Great Britain has won at least a gold medal in every edition. The United States leads the all-time medal count for the Summer Olympics and has topped the medal table on 19 separate occasions, followed by the USSR (seven times, including the 1992 'Unified Team'), and France, Great Britain, Germany and China (once each).
== Hosting ==
The United States has hosted the Summer Olympic Games four times: the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri; the 1932 and 1984 Games in Los Angeles, California, and the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2028 Games in Los Angeles will mark the fifth occasion on which the Summer Olympics have been hosted by the U.S.
In 1924, Paris became the first city to host the Summer Olympics twice, while in 2012, London became the first to host three times. Paris hosted for the third time in 2024, while Los Angeles will do so in 2028. Tokyo (1964 and 2020) and Athens (1896 and 2004, excluding 1906) have each hosted two Summer Olympic Games.
Australia, Germany, Greece and Japan have all hosted the Summer Olympics twice (with Australia hosting for the third time in 2032). Tokyo was the first city outside the predominantly English-speaking and European nations to have hosted twice; it is also the largest city ever to have hosted, having grown considerably since 1964. The other countries to have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Soviet Union, Spain, and Sweden, with each of these countries having hosted on one occasion.
Asia has hosted four times: in Tokyo (1964 and 2020), Seoul (1988), and Beijing (2008).
The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first that was held completely during the local "winter" season. The only two countries in the Southern Hemisphere to have hosted have been Australia (1956, 2000, and again in 2032) and Brazil (2016), with Africa having yet to host any Summer Olympics.
Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympics, having been the sole host of the 1912 Games while hosting the equestrian events for the 1956 Summer Olympics (which quarantine regulations prevented from being held in Melbourne, Australia). Amsterdam, Netherlands, has also hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having been the sole host of the 1928 Games while hosting two of the sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Hong Kong provided the venues for the equestrian events, which took place in Sha Tin and Kwu Tung.
Hosting the Games requires and accelerates large investments in city infrastructure. The Games now play a key role in city leaders' plans to strengthen their cities' global integration and economic competitiveness.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894 when Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. The first edition of The Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896 and attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organised before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying, "If the committee doesn't let me compete, I will go after them regardless". Women first participated officially in the 1900 Paris Games, with 22 women competing in five sports. Female participation has increased dramatically since then, with nearly half of the athletes in recent Games being women.
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the modern era. About 100,000 people attended for the opening of the games. The athletes came from 14 nations, with most coming from Greece. Although Greece had the most athletes, the U.S. finished with the most champions; 11 Americans placed first in their events vs. the 10 from Greece. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organised by Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, on 23 June 1894. The IOC was also established during this congress.
Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. The highlight for the Greeks was the Marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis, a water carrier. He won in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds, setting off wild celebrations at the stadium. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.
Greek officials and the public were enthusiastic about the experience of hosting an Olympic Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the permanent Olympic host city. The IOC intended for subsequent Games to be rotated to various host cities around the world. The second Olympics was held in Paris.
Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 20 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over five months. It has been disputed which exact events were Olympic, as some events were for professionals, some had restricted eligibility, and others lacked international competitors.
Tensions caused by the Russo–Japanese War and the difficulty of travelling to St. Louis may have contributed to the fact that very few top-ranked athletes from outside the U.S. and Canada took part in the 1904 Games, the first Games held outside Europe. The current three-medal format of gold, silver and bronze for first, second and third place was introduced at the 1904 Olympics.
The "Second International Olympic Games in Athens", as they were called at the time, were held in 1906. The IOC does not currently recognise these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do and credit the 1906 games with preventing the demise of the Olympics. The 1906 Athens games were the first of an alternating series of games to be held in Athens in even non-Olympic years, but the series failed to materialise. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 850 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games.
The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was raced at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km (24.9 mi) for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km (1.2 mi) depending on local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six distances. The Games saw Great Britain winning 146 medals, 99 more than second-placed Americans, its best result to this day.
At the end of the 1908 marathon, the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials and later disqualified for that. As compensation for the missing medal, Queen Alexandra gave Pietri a gilded silver cup. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a special report about the race in the Daily Mail.
The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this 'breach' of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfil Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896, all five inhabited continents were represented with athletes competing in the same stadium.
The scheduled 1916 Summer Olympics were to be held in Berlin, cancelled following the onset of World War I.
=== Interwar era ===
The 1920 Antwerp Games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games involved 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. The "Flying Finn" won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500- and 5,000-metre runs, the latter two on the same day.
Paris hosted the 1924 Games, becoming the first two-time host city. The Games were the last held under the IOC presidency of Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics, and saw the introduction of the Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, the Olympic Village, and the Winter Olympics as an “International Winter Sports Week.”
The 1928 Amsterdam Games was notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from the Coca-Cola Company. The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC, choosing Giuseppe Cassioli's depiction of Greek goddess Nike with a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design was used up until 1972.
The 1932 Los Angeles Games featured an Olympic Village and victory podium for the first time.
The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, Olympia, was widely considered to be a masterpiece, despite the infusion of Adolf Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority. Individually, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals, while the host nation won the most gold and overall medals. The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the introduction of the Torch Relay.
Due to World War II, the 1940 Games (scheduled to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of the war) were cancelled. The 1944 Games were set to be held in London but were also cancelled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of the war, in 1948.
=== After World War II ===
The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded. Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin.
At the 1952 Helsinki Games, the USSR team competed for the first time and quickly emerged as one of the dominant teams, finishing second in the number of gold and overall medals won. Their immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis, hence violating amateur rules. Finland made a legend of an amiable Czechoslovak Army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000- and 5,000-metre races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other race leaders, Zátopek led from about halfway, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.
The 1956 Melbourne Games, the first in the Southern Hemisphere, were largely successful, with the exception of a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which ended in a pitched battle between the teams on account of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The equestrian events were held in Stockholm because of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia.
At the 1960 Rome Games, a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, arrived on the scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky. He was awarded a new medal 36 years later at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Other notable performers in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph, a gold medallist in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay events.
The 1964 Tokyo Games were the first to be held in Asia and to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. These Games marked a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics and are credited for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. Judo debuted as an official sport, and Dutch judoka Anton Geesink caused a stir when he won the final of the open weight division, defeating Akio Kaminaga in front of his home crowd.
Performances at the 1968 Games in Mexico City were affected by the altitude of the host city. These Games introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop, a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal. In the medal award ceremony for the men's 200-metre race, black American athletes Tommie Smith (gold medal winner) and John Carlos (bronze medal winner) took a stand for civil rights by raising their black-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes. The two athletes were subsequently expelled from the Games by the IOC. Věra Čáslavská, in protest against the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the controversial decision by the judges on the balance beam and floor, turned her head down and away from the Soviet flag while the national anthem was played during the medal ceremony. She returned home as a heroine of the Czechoslovak people but was made an outcast by the Soviet-dominated government.
Politics again intervened at the 1972 Games in Munich, but this time with lethal consequences. A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation. They killed two Israelis and held nine others as hostages, demanding that Israel release numerous prisoners. When the Israeli government refused the terrorists' demands, the situation developed into a tense stand-off while negotiations continued. Eventually, the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. In the ensuing firefight, 15 people were killed, including the nine captive Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists. After much debate, the decision was taken to continue the Games, but the proceedings were understandably dominated by these events. Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz, Finland's Lasse Virén taking back-to-back gold medals in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres, and the winning of three gold medals by Soviet gymnastic star Olga Korbut, who achieved a historic backflip off the high bar. In the final of the men's basketball, the United States lost to the Soviet Union in what is widely considered as the most controversial game in international basketball history. In a close-fought match, the U.S. team appeared to have won by a score of 50–49. However, the final three seconds of the game were replayed three times by judges until the Soviet team came out on top and claimed a 51–50 victory. Ultimately the U.S. team refused to accept their silver medals.
There was no such tragedy at the 1976 Montreal Games, but bad planning and fraud led to the cost of these Games far exceeding the budget. Costing $1.5 billion (equivalent to $7.92 billion in 2025), the 1976 Summer Games were the most expensive in Olympic history (until the 2014 Winter Olympics) and it seemed, for a time, that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. In retrospect, it is believed that contractors (suspected of being members of the Montreal Mafia) skimmed large sums of money from all levels of contracts while also profiting from the substitution of cheaper building materials of lesser quality, which may have contributed to the delays, poor construction, and excessive costs. In 1988, one such contractor, Giuseppe Zappia "was cleared of fraud charges that resulted from his work on Olympic facilities after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial". The 1976 Games were boycotted by many African nations as a protest against a recent tour of apartheid-run South Africa by the New Zealand national rugby union team. Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci made history when she won the women's individual all-around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores. She won two other individual events, with two perfect scores in the balance beam and all perfect scores in the uneven bars. Lasse Virén repeated his double gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres, making him the first athlete to ever win the distance double twice.
=== End of the 20th century ===
Following the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Japan, boycotted the 1980 Games held in Moscow. Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games – the smallest number since 1956. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country.
According to British journalist Andrew Jennings, a KGB colonel stated that the agency's officers had posed as anti-doping authorities from the IOC to undermine doping tests and that Soviet athletes were "rescued with [these] tremendous efforts". On the topic of the 1980 Summer Olympics, an Australian study in 1989 said "There is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner, who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might as well have been called the Chemists' Games."
Documents obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Dated prior to the country's decision to boycott the Games, the document detailed the existing steroids operations of the programme, along with suggestions for further enhancements. The communication, directed to the Soviet Union's head of track and field, was prepared by Dr. Sergei Portugalov of the Institute for Physical Culture. Portugalov was also one of the main figures involved in the implementation of the Russian doping programme prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.
In 1984, the Soviet Union and 13 Soviet allies retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Romania and Yugoslavia notably are the only two countries from the Eastern Bloc that did attend the 1984 Olympics. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. Although a boycott led by the Soviet Union depleted the field in certain sports, 140 National Olympic Committees took part, which was a record at the time. The Games were also the first time mainland China (People's Republic) participated.
The 1988 Games, in Seoul, was very well planned, but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner Ben Johnson, failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.
The 1992 Barcelona Games featured the admittance of players from one of the North American top leagues, the NBA, exemplified by, but not limited to, U.S. basketball's "Dream Team". The 1992 games also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been annexed into the Soviet Union during World War II. At these games, gymnast Vitaly Scherbo set an inaugural medal record of five individual gold medals at a Summer Olympics and equaled the inaugural record set by Eric Heiden at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had become a commercial concern; there were widespread allegations of corruption potentially affecting the IOC's decision process.
At the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics, one highlight was 200 metres runner Michael Johnson smashing the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savoured Donovan Bailey recording a gold medal run in the 100-metre dash. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. There were 8.3 million tickets sold for events at this Olympics, a record broken only in 2024. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, was arrested.
The 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia, showcased individual performances by local favorites Ian Thorpe in the pool and Cathy Freeman, an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 metres united a packed stadium. Briton Steve Redgrave won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Eric "the Eel" Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, received wide media coverage when he completed the 100-metre freestyle swim in by far the slowest time in Olympic history. He nevertheless won the heat as both his opponents had been disqualified for false starts. His female compatriot Paula Barila Bolopa also received media attention for her record-slow and struggling but courageous performance. The Sydney Games also saw the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent at the opening ceremonies, though they competed in all events as different teams. Controversy occurred in the women's artistic gymnastics when the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the all-around competition.
=== Start of the 21st century ===
In 2004, the Olympic Games returned to their birthplace in Athens, Greece. At least $7.2 billion was spent on the 2004 Games, including $1.5 billion on security. Michael Phelps won his first Olympic medals, tallying six gold and two bronze medals. Pyrros Dimas, winning a bronze medal, became the most decorated weightlifter of all time with four Olympic medals, three gold and one bronze. Although unfounded reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions at the first weekend of the Olympics (14–15 August 2004), attendance picked up as the Games progressed. A third of the tickets failed to sell, but ticket sales still topped figures from the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics (1988 and 1992). IOC President Jacques Rogge characterised Greece's organisation as outstanding and its security precautions as flawless. All 202 NOCs participated at the Athens Games with over 11,000 participants.
The 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. Women competed in the steeplechase for the first time. The fencing programme was expanded to include all six events for both men and women; previously, women had not been able to compete in team foil or sabre events, although women's team épée and men's team foil were dropped for these Games. Marathon swimming events were added, over the distance of 10 km (6.2 mi). Also, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events. American swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of most gold medals by a single competitor previously held by both Eric Heiden and Vitaly Scherbo. Another notable star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games. Equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.
London held the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the first city to host the Olympic Games three times. In his closing address, Jacques Rogge described the Games as "Happy and glorious". The host nation won 29 gold medals, the best haul for Great Britain since the 1908 Games in London. The United States returned to the top of the medal table after China dominated in 2008. The IOC had removed baseball and softball from the 2012 programme. The London Games were successful on a commercial level because they were the first in history to completely sell out every ticket, with as many as one million applications for 40,000 tickets for both the Opening Ceremony and the 100m Men's Sprint Final. Such was the demand for tickets to all levels of each event that there was controversy over seats being set aside for sponsors and National Delegations which went unused in the early days. A system of reallocation was put in place so the empty seats were filled throughout the Games.
=== Recent Games ===
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first South American city to host the Olympics, the second Olympic host city in Latin America, after Mexico City in 1968, as well as the third city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the Olympics after Melbourne, Australia, in 1956 and Sydney, Australia, in 2000. The preparation for these Games was overshadowed by controversies, including political instability and an economic crisis in the host country, health and safety concerns surrounding the Zika virus, and significant pollution in the Guanabara Bay. However, these concerns were superseded by a state-sponsored doping scandal involving Russian athletes at the Winter Olympics held two years earlier, which affected the participation of its athletes in these Games.
The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. The city was the fifth in history to host the Games twice and the first Asian city to have this title. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the IOC and the Tokyo Organising Committee announced that the 2020 Games were to be delayed until 2021, marking the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed. This was the first time since 1900 that the games were not held in a leap year, and were instead hosted in a non-leap year. Unlike previous Olympics, these Games took place without spectators because of concerns over COVID-19 and a state of emergency imposed in the host city. Nevertheless, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games featured many memorable moments and feats of technical excellence. One star of the Games, U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, gracefully bowed out to focus on her mental health, but later returned to claim an individual bronze medal. Norway's Karsten Warholm smashed his own world record in the 400m hurdles.
The 2024 Summer Olympics were held in Paris, France, making it the second city after London to host the Summer Olympics three times (the other times being 1900 and 1924, marking a centenary since the latter). This is the first of any Olympic Games after the pandemic to allow spectators to attend. In a first, the opening ceremonies were staged outside the main stadium with the athletes parading on boats along the River Seine. Following this, the open water swimming competitions also occurred in the Seine.
=== Future Games ===
The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, California, United States, making it the third city (after Paris (1900,1924, 2024) and London (1908, 1948, 2012)) to host the Games three times (the other times being 1932 and 1984), with the U.S. hosting the Summer Olympics for the fifth time.
The 2032 Summer Olympics will be held in Brisbane, Australia, which is the third city to host the Games in Australia and the fourth south of the equator.
== Sports ==
There has been a total of 42 sports, spanning 55 disciplines, included in the Olympic programme at one point or another in the history of the Games. The schedule has comprised 33 sports for the recent Summer Olympics (2020), with 32 sports planned for the next Summer Olympics (2024).
The various Olympic Sports federations are grouped under a common umbrella association, called the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
Current sport
No longer included
=== Qualification ===
Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federation (IF) that governs that sport's international competition.
For individual sports, competitors typically qualify by attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. There is a general rule that a maximum of three individual athletes may represent each nation per competition. National Olympic Committees (NOCs) may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered.
Nations most often qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. Each nation may be represented by no more than one team per competition; a team consists of just two people in some sports.
Some National Olympic Committees, whose nations are underrepresented after qualifications, may be granted wild card quotas, which are termed Universality Places, in some eligible sports.
=== Popularity of Olympic sports ===
The IOC divides Summer Olympic sports into five categories (A – E) based on popularity, gauged by six criteria: television viewing figures (40%), internet popularity (20%), public surveys (15%), ticket requests (10%), press coverage (10%), and number of national federations (5%). The category of a sport determines the share of Olympic revenue received by that sport's International Federation. Sports that were new to the 2016 Olympics (rugby and golf) have been placed in Category E.
The current categories are:
a Aquatics encompasses artistic swimming, diving, swimming, and water polo.
== All-time medal table ==
The table below uses official data provided by the IOC.
status after the 2024 Summer Olympics
=== Medal leaders by year ===
Number of occurrences
== List of Summer Olympic Games ==
The IOC has never decided which events of the early Games were "Olympic" and which were not. The founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, ceded that determination to the organisers of those Games. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatics | Pneumatics | Pneumatics (from Greek πνεῦμα pneuma 'wind, breath') is the use of gas or pressurized air to create mechanical motion in mechanical systems.
Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located and electrically powered compressor powers cylinders, air motors, pneumatic actuators, and other pneumatic devices. A pneumatic system controlled through manual or automatic solenoid valves is selected when it provides a lower cost, more flexible, or safer alternative to electric motors, and hydraulic actuators.
Pneumatics also has applications in dentistry, construction, mining, and other areas.
== History ==
Although the early history of pneumatics is somewhat unclear, blowguns are often considered the earliest pneumatic device, being created independently by various indigenous groups around the world. Bellows are an early form of air compressor used primarily for smelting and forging. Ctesibius of Alexandria is often considered the father of pneumatics, "who worked in the early 3rd century BCE and invented a number of mechanical toys operated by air, water, and steam under pressure." Though no documents written by Ctesibius survive, he is thought to have heavily influenced Philo of Byzantium while writing his work, Mechanical Syntaxis, as well as Vitruvius in De architectura. In the first century BC, the ancient Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria compiled recipes for dozens of contraptions in his work Pneumatics. It has been speculated that much of this work can be attributed to Ctesibius. The pneumatic experiments described in these ancient documents later inspired the Renaissance inventors of the thermoscope and the air thermometer, devices which relied upon the heating and cooling of air to move a column of water up and down a tube.
German physicist Otto von Guericke (1602–1686) invented the vacuum pump, a device that can draw out air or gas from the attached vessel. He demonstrated the vacuum pump to separate the pairs of copper hemispheres using air pressures.
== Gases used in pneumatic systems ==
Pneumatic systems in fixed installations, such as factories, use compressed air because a sustainable supply can be made by compressing atmospheric air. The air usually has moisture removed, and a small quantity of oil is added at the compressor to prevent corrosion and lubricate mechanical components.
Factory-plumbed pneumatic-power users need not worry about poisonous leakage, as the gas is usually just air. Any compressed gas other than air is an asphyxiation hazard—including nitrogen, which makes up 78% of air. Compressed oxygen (approx. 21% of air) would not asphyxiate, but is not used in pneumatically powered devices because it is a fire hazard, more expensive, and offers no performance advantage over air. Smaller or stand-alone systems can use other compressed gases that present an asphyxiation hazard, such as nitrogen—often referred to as OFN (oxygen-free nitrogen) when supplied in cylinders.
Portable pneumatic tools and small vehicles, such as Robot Wars machines and other hobbyist applications are often powered by compressed carbon dioxide, because containers designed to hold it such as SodaStream canisters and fire extinguishers are readily available, and the phase change between liquid and gas makes it possible to obtain a larger volume of compressed gas from a lighter container than compressed air requires. Carbon dioxide is an asphyxiant and can be a freezing hazard if vented improperly.
== Comparison to hydraulics ==
Both pneumatics and hydraulics are applications of fluid power. Pneumatics uses an easily compressible gas such as air or a suitable pure gas—while hydraulics uses relatively incompressible liquid media such as oil. Most industrial pneumatic applications use pressures of about 80 to 100 psi (550 to 690 kPa). Hydraulics applications commonly use from 1,000 to 5,000 psi (6.9 to 34.5 MPa), but specialized applications may exceed 50,000 psi (340 MPa).
=== Advantages of pneumatics ===
Simplicity of design and control—Machines are easily designed using standard cylinders and other components, and operate via simple on-off control.
Reliability—Pneumatic systems generally have long operating lives and require little maintenance. Because gas is compressible, equipment is less subject to shock damage. Gas absorbs excessive force, whereas fluid in hydraulics directly transfers force. Compressed gas can be stored, so machines still run for a while if electrical power is lost.
Safety—There is a very low chance of fire compared to hydraulic oil. New machines are usually overload-safe to a certain limit.
=== Advantages of hydraulics ===
Fluid does not absorb any of the supplied energy.
Capable of moving much higher loads and providing much lower forces due to the incompressibility.
The hydraulic working fluid is practically incompressible, leading to a minimum of spring action. When hydraulic fluid flow is stopped, the slightest motion of the load releases the pressure on the load; there is no need to "bleed off" pressurized air to release the pressure on the load.
Highly responsive compared to pneumatics.
Supply more power than pneumatics.
Can also serve multiple purposes simultaneously: lubrication, cooling and power transmission.
== Pneumatic logic ==
Pneumatic logic systems (sometimes called air logic control) are sometimes used for controlling industrial processes, consisting of primary logic units like:
And units
Or units
Relay or booster units
Latching units
Timer units
Fluidics amplifiers with no moving parts other than the air itself
Pneumatic logic is a reliable and functional control method for industrial processes. In recent years, these systems have largely been replaced by electronic control systems in new installations because of the smaller size, lower cost, greater precision, and more powerful features of digital controls. Pneumatic devices are still used where upgrade cost, or safety factors dominate.
Another domain where pneumatic logic is beneficial is soft robotics. By introducing simpler pneumatic logic components into soft robotics, expensive, rigid components can be replaced or reduced, lowering the manufacturing costs of the construction of soft robotic systems.
== Examples of pneumatic systems and components == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selatan | Selatan | Selatan is the Malay and Indonesian word for south and can be found in topography.
E.g.
Sulawesi Selatan -> South Sulawesi
Sumatera Selatan -> South Sumatra
South Cape (Indonesia)
Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan -> North–South Expressway (Malaysia) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Wheels | Hot Wheels | Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until Mattel bought Matchbox owner Tyco Toys in 1997.
Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be children's toys, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available.
== History ==
=== Development ===
In the late 1960s, Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, developed the concept for Hot Wheels as a toy line that would appeal to boys in the same way their Barbie had to girls. Handler was inspired to create a new line of toy cars after seeing his son Kenneth play with Matchbox cars. Unlike Matchbox, which focused on small-scale models of real production vehicles, Handler envisioned Hot Wheels as a line of exaggerated, customized "hot rod" cars, featuring big rear tires, superchargers, flame paint jobs, hood blowers, and outlandish proportions. He began producing the cars with assistance from fellow engineer Jack Ryan. The flame logo was designed by artist Rick Irons, who worked at Mattel at the time. Mattel first unveiled 16 Hot Wheels cars in the 1968 New York Toy Fair.
==== The Sweet 16 ====
The first line of Hot Wheels cars, known as The Original Sweet 16 were manufactured in 1967. These were the first of the Red Line Series, named for the tires which had a red pin stripe on their sides.
There were sixteen castings released, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley with assistance from Handler and Ryan. The first one produced was a dark blue "Custom Camaro". Bradley was from the car industry and had designed the body for the (full-sized) Dodge Deora concept car and the Custom Fleet side, (based on his own customized 1966 El Camino).
The lineup consisted of the following:
=== Racing track set ===
In addition to the cars themselves, Mattel produced a racing track set which was sold separately. Though it would be updated throughout the years, the original track set consists of a series of bright orange road sections (pieced together to form an oblong, circular race track), with one (or sometimes two) "superchargers" (faux service stations through which cars passed on the tracks, featuring battery-powered spinning wheels, which would propel the cars along the tracks). Hot Wheels' use of wide, hard-plastic tires created much less friction and tracked more smoothly than the narrow metal or plastic wheels used on contemporary Matchbox cars. Hot Wheels cars were designed to roll easily and at high speeds, which was a great innovation at the time.
=== 1968–1977: The "Redline" era ===
=== 1968 ===
The Hot Wheels brand was successful, disrupting the industry for small die-cast car models from 1968 onward. They forced Matchbox and other competitors to rethink their concepts. Harry Bentley Bradley did not think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry. When the company asked him to come back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. Gilford, who had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels models. Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, such as the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board. The Twin Mill was introduced in 1969 and was used to create the company's first full-scale replica car in 2001.
The success of the 1968 line was solidified and consolidated with the 1969 releases, with which Hot Wheels effectively established itself as the hottest brand of small toy car models in the USA. Splittin' Image, Torero, Turbofire, and Twin Mill were part of the "Show & Go" series and are the very first original in-house designs by Hot Wheels.
The initial prototypes of the Beach Bomb were faithful to the shape of a real VW Type 2 "bus", and had two surfboards sticking out the back window, in a nod to the VW's perceived association with the surfing community and the slang term for a person who spends much time surfing—a "beach bum". During the fledgling Hot Wheels era, Mattel wanted to make sure that each of the cars could be used with any of the playsets and stunt track sets. Unfortunately, testing showed that this early version (now known among collectors as the Rear-Loader Beach Bomb, or "RLBB") was too narrow to roll effectively on Hot Wheels track or be powered by the Super Charger, and was too top-heavy to negotiate high-speed corners.
Hot Wheels designers Howard Rees and Larry Wood modified the casting, extending the side fenders to accommodate the track width, as well as providing a new place on the vehicle to store each of the plastic surfboards. The roof was also cut away and replaced by a full-length sunroof, to lower the center of gravity. Nicknamed the Side-loader by collectors, this was the production version of the Beach Bomb.
The Rear-Loader Beach Bomb is widely considered the "Holy Grail", or ultimate pinnacle, of a serious Hot Wheels collection. An unknown number were made as test subjects and given to employees. A regular production Beach Bomb may be worth up to $600, depending on condition. Market prices on RLBBs however, have easily reached the five-figure plateau, ranging from $70,000 to $120,000. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles had a pink RLBB in its Hot Wheels exhibit, displayed alone on a rotating platform under glass. The Hot Wheels Collectors Club released a new, updated version of the Rear Loading Beach Bomb in 2002 as a limited edition.
=== 1970s ===
1970 was a successful year for Hot Wheels, so Mattel came up with a new advertising slogan for the cars: "Go With the Winner". 43 new cars appeared that year, including the Sizzlers and Heavyweights lines. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood, whom he worked with at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered him the job of designing Hot Wheels models. Wood accepted, and, by the end of the week, Wood was working at Mattel, where his first design was the Tri-Baby. Larry Wood retired in 2019 after over 40 years of designing cars.
Another designer, Paul Tam, joined Wood and Gilford. Tam's first design was the Whip Creamer. Tam continued to work for Mattel until 1973. Among the many fantastic designs Tam thought up for Hot Wheels, some of the collector's favorites include Evil Weevil (a Volkswagen Beetle with two engines), Open Fire (an AMC Gremlin with six wheels), Six Shooter (another six-wheeled car), and the rare Double Header (co-designed with Larry Wood).
The year 1970 introduced "the Snake and the Mongoose", a manufactured 'rivalry' between two professional drag racers calling themselves "the Snake" and "the Mongoose" for the purposes of publicity. This was notably drag racing's first major non-automotive corporate sponsor, and the beginning of the NHRA's booming popularity with large-budget teams and championships. 1970 also introduced the first 'Silver Series', which contained three silver-painted models: the Boss Hoss, the Heavy Chevy, and the King 'Kuda, which were only obtainable through a mail-in offer that included a membership to the Hot Wheels Club. These three cars featured "supercharged" engines (featuring large Roots blowers) without hoods, and open exhaust headers, after the style of drag racing cars of the era. Popular among children, these 'Silver Cars' were considered faster than the rest of the Hot Wheels lineup, because they were supposedly heavier than the other gravity models, but the accuracy of this claim has never been tested under scientific conditions.
However, 1972 and 1973 were slow years. Only seven new models were made in 1972. Of the 24 models appearing for 1973, only three were new models. Also the cars changed from Mattel's in-house Spectraflame colors to mostly drab, solid enamel colors, which mainstream Hot Wheels cars still use today. Due to low sales, and the fact that the majority of the castings were not re-used in later years, the 1972-3 models are known to be very collectible.
In 1974, Hot Wheels introduced its 'Flying Colors' line, and added flashy decals and "tampo-printed" paint designs which helped revitalize sales. As with the lower-friction wheels in 1968, this innovation was revolutionary in the industry, and—although far less effective in terms of sales impact than in 1968—was copied by the competition, who did not want to be outmaneuvered again by Mattel product strategists.
In 1977, the 'Redline Wheel' was phased out, with the red lines no longer being printed on the wheels. This cut costs, but also reflected that the prototypical "red line tires" popular on high-speed-rated automotive tires during the era of muscle cars and Polyglas tires were no longer popular. During this period, there was a trend away from wild hot rods and fantastic cars, and a move to more realistic cars and trucks, like the competitor Matchbox.
=== 1977–1988: The 'Blackwalls' era ===
In 1981, Hot Ones wheels were introduced, which had gold-painted hubs, and claimed to have thinner axles for greater speed, along with additional suspension compliance that older production Hot Wheels lacked. Ultra Hot Wheels were introduced in 1984, and looked something like the cast alloy wheels found on a 1980s-era high-trim Renault Fuego or a Mazda 626, with three parallel dark lines cutting diagonally across the flat chrome face of the wheel, all three broken in the center to form six individual shorter lines. These new "Ultra Hots" claimed further speed improvements. Hot Wheels started offering models based on 1980s-era sports and economy cars, like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024, in addition to their typical 'hot rod' and muscle car style offerings. In 1983, a new style of wheel called Real Riders was introduced, which featured real rubber tires. Despite the fact that they were very popular, the Real Riders line was short-lived, because of high production costs. In the late 1980s, the so-called Blue Card blister pack color scheme was introduced, which would become the basis of Hot Wheels colors still used today (original blister packs were red and yellow).
Two other innovations were introduced briefly in Hot Wheels cars in the 1980s – Thermal Color Change paint, and rotating 'crash panel' vehicles ("Crack-Ups"). The former was able to change color on exposure to hot or cold water, and there was an initial release of 20 different cars, available as sets of three vehicles. The latter were vehicles with a panel that, on contact, would rotate to reveal a reverse side that appeared to be heavily dented. Variations in crash panels included front, rear and side panels, the last of whose mechanism has proven to be the most durable.
In the 1980s, Hot Wheels had gotten into a controversy with General Motors' Chevrolet Motors Division. In 1982, the Chevrolet Corvette had ended the curvaceous "Mako Shark" body style that had been in production for almost 15 years, and GM announced that the Corvette would be redesigned. In 1983, Chevrolet started to produce the all-new C4 Corvette but had assembly line problems which pushed production back 6 months causing GM's Marketing Department to label all 1983s as 1984s once they got production perfected so it would seem to the public that the all-new C4 Corvette came out early rather than late. But Hot Wheels saw what the new model of Corvette was going to look like before GM's official unveiling, and they designed a die-cast version of the 1984 Corvette. GM was angered and almost pulled its licensing with Mattel, but this controversy helped Corvette enthusiasts see what the new Corvette was going to look like. The 1984 Corvette production ran for 1.5 model years covering half of the remaining 1983 model year and ending on time for the 1985 model year.
In conjunction with Epyx Software, Mattel released a computer game edition of Hot Wheels for various 8-bit platforms in 1985, as part of the Computer Activity Toys series.
=== 1989–1994: The collector number era ===
In 1989, Mattel released collector numbers. Each car had its own number. The cards were all blue, for all blister packs released from 1989 to 1994. Numbers included went as high as 274; however, these were skip numbered, and numbers such as 48, 61, and 173 were not used.
=== 1995–1999: The Treasure Hunt era ===
The year 1995 brought a major change to the Hot Wheels line, where the cars were split up into series. One was the 1995 Model Series, which included all of that year's new castings. In 1996, the Model Series was renamed to First Editions. 1995 also saw the introduction of the Treasure Hunt Series (see below). The rest of the series included four cars with paint schemes that followed a theme. For example, the Pearl Driver cars all had pearlescent paint. Sales for the series models soared with another program also introduced that year called the Bonus Car program, causing stores across the nation to have shortages. Purchasing the four car sets and sending in the packaging backs plus a handling fee gave you the opportunity to collect the bonus cars, 1 each released for each quarter of the year starting in 1996 through at least 2000. Several new wheel designs were also introduced in the 1990s.
Mattel bought Tyco Toys in 1997. Along with the purchase came the company's old competitor Matchbox. Arguably the two dominant companies in matchbox-sized cars were now under one roof.
In 1998, Mattel celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand by replicating various cars and individual packaging from its 30-year history and packaging these replicated vehicles in special 30th Anniversary boxes. In 1999, Hot Wheels Interactive was launched.
=== 2000s ===
A new generation of Hot Wheels Designers came in. Eric Tscherne and Fraser Campbell along with former designer Paul Tam's son, Alec Tam, joined the design team. Tscherne's Seared Tuner (formerly Sho-Stopper) graced the mainline packaging from 2000 to 2003. The Deora II, one of only two Hot Wheels concept cars ever made into full-size, functional cars, was also released this year.
In 2001, Mattel created a Hot Wheels collectors website.
Also in 2001, Mattel issued 240 mainline releases consisting of 12 Treasure Hunts, 36 First Editions, 12 Segment Series with four cars each, and 144 open stock cars. Popular models that debuted include the HyperMite and FrightBike.
For 2002, the mainline consisted of 12 Treasure Hunts, 42 First Editions, 15 Segment Series of 4 cars each, and 126 open stock cars. Popular new models included the `68 Cougar and the Nissan Skyline GT-R. Some cars from the first editions series are the Backdraft, Overbored 454, and Super Tsunami.
In 2003, Hot Wheels celebrated its 35th anniversary with a full-length animated film called Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race. This movie tied into the Highway 35 line of cars that featured 35 classic Hot Wheels cars with special graphics and co-molded wheels.
In 2004, Hot Wheels unveiled its "Hot 100" line of 100 new models. These included mostly short-lived lines of cartoonish vehicles such as Tooned (vehicles based on the larger Hot Tunerz line of Hot Wheels created by Eric Tscherne), Blings (boxy bodies and big wheels), Hardnoze (enlarged fronts), Crooze (stretched out bodies), and Fatbax (super-wide rear wheels and short bodies). Fatbax models included vehicles such as the Toyota Supra and Corvette C6. These vehicles did not sell as well as Mattel expected, and many could still be found in stores throughout 2005. Mattel also released 2004 First Editions cars with unpainted Zamac bodies. They were sold through Toys 'R' Us and were made in limited numbers.
In 2005, Hot Wheels continued with new "extreme" castings for the 2nd year, debuting the Torpedoes line (skinny bodies and outboard wheels) and Drop Tops (flattened rooflines and wheel arches that extend above the car's roofline), in addition to 20 "Realistix" models. The rest of the line included the standard 12 Treasure Hunts, 10 Track Aces, 50 Segment Series Cars, and 50 Open Stock Models. Four Volkswagen "Mystery Cars" were offered as a special mail-in promo. Each Mystery Car came with a special voucher. Upon collection of all 4 vouchers, one was able to send away for a special 13th Treasure Hunt, a VW Drag Bus.
Hot Wheels also unveiled its new "Faster than Ever" line of cars, which had special nickel-plated axles, along with bronze-colored Open-Hole 5 Spoke wheels. These adjustments supposedly reduced friction dramatically. The first run of these cars were available for a limited time only, from the beginning of October towards the end of November 2005.
Also, a continuation of the movie Highway 35 called Hot Wheels AcceleRacers was created, taking place two years after the events of Highway 35. It is featured in four movies and many short segments where the drivers (old ones, gangs, like Teku, Metal Maniacs, the evil Racing Drones, and the stealthy Silencerz). All of the shorts and previews of the movies were placed on a temporary website that was deleted shortly after the last movie.
2006 was the final year of the First Editions series consisting of 38 cars for that year including a Toyota AE86, 2006 Honda Civic Si, Plymouth Superbird and 2007 Cadillac Escalade along with fantasy models like the Nerve Hammer, Pharodox, Semi-Psycho as well as the fan-favourite Bone Shaker, Larry Wood's most popular design to date.
In 2007, Mattel released 36 New Models (formerly First Editions), 12 Treasure Hunts (with a hard-to-find regular version and even rarer "Super Treasure Hunt" version of each with rubber Real Rider tires and Spectraflame paint), 12 'Teams' of 4 cars each (formerly Segment Series), 24 Code Cars (codes imprinted inside the packaging that can be used to unlock web content), 12 Track Stars (formerly Track Aces), 24 Mystery Cars (packaged on a card with an opaque blister, so the buyer cannot see which car is inside without opening it), and 24 All-Stars (formerly Open Stock). In late 2006, a new package design for 2007 was released. Some 2006 cars and all 2007 cars are packaged on a blister card with the new design. Hot Wheels released a series called Modifighters, which are similar to Transformers except for the fact that they were originally cars and were modified into robots. The Modifighters names are: Streetwyse, Skullface, Live Wire, Bedlam, Nightlife, Mr. Big, and Quick-Tyme.
In 2008, all the series and vehicles were relatively similar to 2007's cars. Approximately 180 to 200 new vehicles were released.
In 2009, Mattel released 42 New Models, 12 Treasure Hunts, 12 Track Stars, 24 Mystery Cars, 10 Segment Series of 10 cars, and introduced the Indy Car Series drivers.
Mattel released its first-ever animated episodic television series called Hot Wheels Battle Force 5, which was a co-production between Canadian animation studios, Nelvana and Nerd Corps Entertainment. (now WildBrain.) The series debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network on August 29, 2009..
=== 2010–2016 ===
2011 saw the release of 244 cars beginning with the 2011 New Car Series which includes the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, Custom 2011 Camaro, and the DeLorean time machine from the Back to the Future series. This was followed by the 15-car Treasure Hunt series with 1957 Chevy and 1958 Chevy Impala, 15 Track Stars including the 2010 Formula Street series, the 10x10 series, the Thrill Racers series, and 22 HW Video Game Heroes which were packaged with codes for an internet computer game. The new series "Team Hot Wheels" appeared in late 2011.
2012 saw the release of 247 cars, beginning with the 2012 New Car Series which includes the Lamborghini Aventador, Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca, KITT from Knight Rider, and the ever-popular Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. 2012 also saw the release of two vehicles from the Angry Birds video game franchise, consisting of the Red Bird and the green Minion Pig.
2013 saw the release of 250 cars including Stunt, Racing, Imagination, City, and Showroom, all of which contain sub-series. 2013 also saw a change in the look of the packaging cards which includes a quartet of helmeted motorcycle riders standing behind the flame logo and the Treasure Hunt series cards no longer marked with a treasure chest. Some of those cars include Rodzilla, Fangula, Twin Mill III (3), Bone Shaker and Baja Bone Shaker.
General Motors also released a special Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Edition, which was a blue convertible that offered various Hot-Wheels-themed decorations throughout the car.
2014 saw 250 mainstream cars released with similar segments to 2013. Various playsets and other non-car merchandise were also released this year. 2014 also marked the end of the license agreement between Mattel and Ferrari (the licensing was eventually renewed in 2025), meaning the 2014 release of Ferrari 5 Pack would be the last for Mattel, and the 2015 black Ferrari 599XX was the last Ferrari model appearing in mainstream, both regular model and its Treasure Hunt variant.
2016 lineup was similar to 2015 and 2014 in terms of segments, and the design of the card was overhauled. Some car names were TBD (To Be Determined) or 2016 (Coming Soon). They're now divided into mini collections with their corresponding segments and their icons printed on the card. Some of them include HW Showroom, BMW (100th anniversary of BMW), HW Screen Time (Cars and characters seen on television, video games, and movies), and HW Snow Stormers. New models include the Cruise Bruiser, Side Ripper, Grass Chomper, and the '16 Acura NSX, while other models first see their release in the mainline series, such as the '52 Hudson Hornet
=== 2017–2021 ===
2017 saw a major change in casting numbering. Since that moment, recolors are named with a different number than the original, thus causing the number limit of cars to expand to 365. The idea of numbering a casting with a number corresponding to their own series was also aborted. There were also some new mainline series introduced, such as Experimotors (cars with moving parts, or a secondary purpose), Holiday Racers (cars that have a holiday based theme), Factory Fresh (a series including newer, sometimes older castings with fabric painting) and Camaro Fifty (a series dedicated to the Chevrolet Camaro, and its 50th anniversary).
In 2018, Hot Wheels celebrated its 50th anniversary. The style of the blister cards were changed again, depicting a city in the background of the car, thus emulating a "Hot Wheels City" theme. For that year, each blister card had a 50th Anniversary logo. Hot Wheels also launched several collector-focused lines for that year, including Favorites, which was a series that consisted of 11 highly detailed vehicles (which were based on real cars), all with metal bodies and rubber tires. For this year, Hot Wheels also launched a display case, which could hold up to 48 cars, and could either stand up on its own (via attachable "feet") or be mounted on a wall. Each display case came with an exclusive car.
On October 4, 2018, Mattel filed a new trademark for the motto it's not the same without the flame. In 2019, a seal was added in the bottom left corner of the blister card with the motto.
On February 18, 2021, the Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover was released; a die-cast scale model latest vehicle in its Space mini-collections inspired by the NASA-launched Perseverance rover.
Hot Wheels designer Ryu Asada died on March 23, 2021, at age 42, after years of suffering from cancer. That same year, Hot Wheels began a partnership with Milestone S.r.l. to release their first game, Hot Wheels Unleashed, in which came out on September 30, 2021.
=== 2022–present ===
On 7 March 2023, NBC ordered a reality competition series known as Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge with Rutledge Wood as host. It which premiered on 30 May 2023.
Netflix announced a new animated series adaptation, Hot Wheels Let's Race, on 28 September 2023, which premiered on 4 March 2024.
On 9 October 2024, Formula One announced a new multi-year partnership with Hot Wheels. The partnership began in 2024 with the release of a Hot Wheels F1 car, before the full range of F1 products are later released in 2025.
== Hot Wheels Legends Tour ==
Starting in 2018, Hot Wheels launched a new program called the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. This program was originally launched to commemorate Hot Wheels's 50th anniversary. Each year, there are 18 Legends Tour events that are held at various Walmart locations across the United States. Over 111,000 people attend and about 5,000 cars are entered at those events. At each event, one car is picked to be recreated as a potential new Hot Wheels casting. After all the events for that year conclude, one finalist is then picked to be the winner, and their car then gets recreated as a new Hot Wheels casting next year. Hot Wheels are looking for vehicles that embody the fun and creative spirit of Hot Wheels, which is their main selling point.
=== Hot Wheels Legends Tour winners ===
2018: Custom built "2JetZ", built by Luis Rodriguez
2019: 1957 Nash Metropolitan "The Nash", built by Greg Salzillo and Dave Ford
2020: 1970 Pontiac Trans Am, built by Riley Stair.
2021: 1969 Volvo P1800 "Ain't No Saint", built by Lee Johnstone.
2022: 1992 Autozam Scrum "Texas Toot", built by Craig Meaux
2023: 1990 Mazda MX-5 Roadster "Chimera", built by Chris Watson
2024: Custom 1968 Ford Falcon "La Liebre", built by Giuseppe Casagrande and Maurizio Moschini
2025: 1990 Fiat 126p "Delta XS", built by Paweł Czarnecki
== Collectibles ==
Through the years, Hot Wheels cars have been collected mostly by children. However, since the late 1990s, there has been an increase in the number of adult collectors. Mattel estimates that 41 million children grew up playing with the toys, the average collector has over 1,550 cars, and children between the ages of 5 and 15 have an average of 41 cars. Most believe the collecting craze started with the Treasure Hunts in 1995. Mike Strauss has been called the father of Hot Wheels collecting; he has organized two collectors' events each year in some form since 1986. The first event was the Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention, normally held each year in the fall. The convention occurred in various locations around the country until 2001, when the first Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals was put together. Since then, the Conventions are held each year in southern California. The Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals rotate among cities outside of California during the spring. Strauss has also published the quarterly Hot Wheels Newsletter since 1986 and was one of the first to unite collectors all over the world. He also writesTomart's Price Guide To Hot Wheels, a book listing history, car descriptions and values, which is used by almost every collector to learn more about the hobby and their collection. Strauss sold his collection in 2011 and retired from the Hot Wheels Newsletter.
There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of web pages dedicated to Hot Wheels collecting. Collectors are seeking everything related to Hot Wheels, from only new castings to only Red Lines and everything in between. For the most part, it is a relatively inexpensive hobby, when compared with coin collecting, stamp collecting or Barbie collecting, with mainline cars costing about $0.97-$1.08 (USD) at retail. The price has not changed much in almost 40 years, although in real terms the models have dropped significantly in price (a Hot Wheels car cost $0.98 in 1968 and costs $0.98 today, in spite of inflation). After the cars are no longer available at retail the cost can vary significantly. A common car may sell for less than retail, while some of the more difficult cars can sell for many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The highest price paid for a Hot Wheels car was close to $70,000 in 2000 for a pre-production version of a Volkswagen Rear Loader Beach Bomb (the asking price was $72,000). The Beach Bomb is a VW microbus with a pair of surfboards poking out the rear window. This design failed initial testing, proving to be top-heavy and not functional with the Power Booster track accessory. A widened version with the surfboards mounted in side slots was designed and released for the 1969 model year, making the "rear loader" version a rarity and very sought-after piece. As of 2018, there are about 50 "rear loaders" known to exist.
=== Dates on cars ===
The date on the base of a Hot Wheels car (Example: ©2008 Mattel) is the copyright date for the casting of the car, not a production date or release year. The date is usually the year before the car was first released, but not always. For example, a car in the 2001 First Editions series called Evil Twin, was released in 2001 but the year dated on the bottom of the car is 2000. Sometimes, the copyright will be the same year as the casting's first release. This usually happens with cars released toward the end of a model year. There are a few cases where the copyright is several years before a car's first release. The copyright date will usually not change through the lifetime of a casting. For example, the Twin Mill, first released in 1969, still had a 1969 copyright date on the 2019 mainline releases of the car. If the tooling for a car has a major change at some point in its life, the copyright date might be changed or amended to reflect the change. For example, Quick Bite, first released in 1984 as the Good Humor Truck, had a tooling update before 2018, so its date reads 1983, '17 on the base of the 2018 release.
There are a few exceptions where the copyright date applies only to the base of a car instead of to the entire car. Those exceptions are mostly funny car castings where the same base was used with various different bodies over the years.
Since 2008, Hot Wheels cars have had a code stamped or printed on the base. This is a "base code". This base code can be used to identify exactly when an individual car was produced in the Hot Wheels factory. The code begins with a letter, followed by a two-digit number. The letter for the year 2008 was "A". The letter is then followed by two numbers, which represent the week of that particular year the car was manufactured. For example, a car with the date stamp of "A52" was produced on the fifty-second week of 2008.
Some cars have 4-digit date codes on the base. These date codes are more specific than the 3-digit codes as they indicate the day a car was made instead of just the week. For the 4-digit codes, the first 3 digits indicate the day of the year and the last digit is the year. A date code of 1987 would indicate the car was made on the 198th day of 2017 (July 17). A code of 0250 would be the 25th day of 2010 (or 2020; depending on the car).
Date codes only indicate when a specific car was made. They do not necessarily reflect the model release year of a particular car. Mainline production changes to the next model year right around the middle of the calendar year at the end of June/beginning of July. Premiums and other special series lines often run later in the calendar year before changing production to the next year.
== Hot Wheels Classics ==
The Hot Wheels Classics line was an immediate hit with enthusiasts everywhere. The new line focused on muscle cars, hot rods, and other offbeat vehicles (such as a go-kart, a motor home and even an airplane), many from the company's first ten years (1968–78) of production. The series is also used to debut several different castings, such as the 1965 Chevy Malibu or the 1972 Ford Ranchero.
Series 1 from 2005 consisted of 25 models, each with all-metal body and chassis, decked out with Spectraflame paint, in packages similar to those used from 1968 to 1972. Each car had a retail price of about three to four dollars (USD) and each of the 25 cars were released with 7 or 8 different colors. Models included the 1957 Chevy Bel Air (pictured at the right), the 1963 Ford T-Bird, and the 1965 Pontiac GTO.
There were also track sets in similar retro packaging, and 1:18 scale Hot Wheels Classics. The Classics version of the Purple Passion was released with Real Riders tires at San Diego Comic-Con. Mattel also produced a Classics Olds 442 in Spectraflame blue for the 2005 Toy Fair.
In late 2005, Series 2 now consisted of 30 models including the 1967 Camaro Convertible, the 1969 Dodge Charger, and a 1965 Mustang GT. There was also supposed to be a separate Mustang Funny Car (as listed on the blisterpack rear checklist) but this was apparently changed to a Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car during production.
In 2006, a Series 3 line of Classics was introduced, again containing 30 models with multiple colors of each vehicle. Models included the '69 Pontiac Firebird, a Meyers Manx dune buggy, and the Richard Petty '70 Plymouth "Superbird".
In 2007, Series 4 debuted with just fifteen models. However, in recognition of the 40th anniversary there were two packaging versions available - models came with a collectible metal badge (featuring a portrait of the involved vehicle) or were sold alone as in the previous three series. Models included a VW Karmann Ghia, a '68 Mercury Cougar, and the "Red Baron" hot rod. For its 40th anniversary in 2008, Hot Wheels celebrated the making of its four billionth car with the production of a diamond-studded model worth US$140,000. It had 2,700 diamond chips, a total of almost 23 karats, and was cast in white gold, with rubies serving as taillights.
In 2009, Series 5 has 30 models. For the first time, there are chase cars in the classics series. These cars feature Real Riders rubber tires. A few models included are Copper Stopper, 1970 Pontiac GTO, and Hammer Sled.
== Special model lines ==
Hot Wheels has also released slightly larger, more detailed models, such as the original Gran Toros (1/43 scale) from 1970, and the Dropstars line (a model line of "blinged" cars). Also in this larger scale are the HIN (Hot Import Nights), G-Machines and Customs lines. These lines were introduced in 2004–2005.
Hot Wheels has produced many replica scale models in the industry standard 1/43, 1/24 and 1/18 scales. In 2004, it released a 1/12 scale replica of the C6 Corvette.
Hot Wheels also in the early 1990s introduced a series known as the California Customs. A line of cars that had a California theme.
Other lines from Hot Wheels include: R-R-Rumblers & Chopcycles (motorcycles introduced in 1971), Hotbirds (metal airplanes), Sizzlers, XV Racers, Hot Tunerz and Stockerz.
Over the years, Mattel has also teamed up with other retail organizations to produce special models available through those retailers. The list of retailers includes Avon, Chuck E. Cheese, Dinty Moore, FAO Schwarz, Full Grid, General Mills, Getty, HEB, Hills, Hormel, Hughes Family Markets, JC Penney, JC Whitney, Kay-Bee Toys, K-Mart, Kellogg's, Kool-Aid, Kroger, Lexmark, Liberty Promotions (contracted the series of special models for Jiffy Lube and Penske), Little Debbie Snacks, Malt-O-Meal, McDonald's, Mervyn's, Otter Pops, Rose's Discount Stores, Shell, Target, Tony's Pizza, Toys "R" Us, Union 76, Valvoline, Van de Kamp's, Walmart, and White's Guide to Collecting, as well as several Major League Baseball franchises to name a few.
In 2016, Hot Wheels released a special collection for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' 1966 song "Yellow Submarine." The collections includes five cars, a VW microbus and a yellow submarine.
=== Made by other companies ===
In some cases, Hot Wheels dies have been sold or acquired by other companies once Mattel has finished using them. One example were early dies that made their way to Argentina and were reproduced as Mukys, though not with spectra-flame paints or the same quality as seen in Mattel's products.
=== Hot Wheels Elite and Hot Wheels Mattel ===
Hot Wheels has spin-off series named Hot Wheels Elite and Hot Wheels Mattel, respectively. The Elite Hot Wheels are 1:18, 1:43 and 1:50 highly detailed diecast, the majority of them being based on Ferraris. They are more expensive than the Mattel models which aren't as highly detailed. The Elite versions are licensed by Ferrari. The Hot Wheels Elite series have a "mini" series which can be seen on the website. Two of the popular limited 1:18 Hot Wheels Elite series' are the Ferrari in Music and Cult Classics. The music series features singers' and rappers' Ferraris, including Jamiroquai's Jay Kay's Black Enzo Ferrari.
=== Car Culture ===
In 2016, Hot Wheels started a new line of Collector's models, in a line called Car Culture. Car Culture is Hot Wheels' line of Premium 1:64 models with metal bodies and bases, two-piece wheels with rubber tires, and more detailed decorations. Intended for adult collectors primarily, these models retail for roughly 6-7 times the cost of a mainstream 1:64 Hot Wheels model. These cars retail for over three times the retail price of a "basic" car, and are produced in significantly fewer numbers.
This line debuted with the release of "Japan Historics", a set of five Japanese sports cars. Every year at least four more sets are introduced. All Car Culture sets have five cars, and often have new castings created for the sets. The number five spot in the set is usually reserved for the newest casting in the set. Car Culture cars are typically based on real automobiles; however in 2018, Hot Wheels introduced a set called "Team Transport", which included some fantasy truck castings. The fact that some of the trucks are unlicensed allows the castings to be universally used in any Team Transport set regardless of theme (for example, a Chevrolet-branded truck would not make sense in a Ford-themed set). Although "Team Transport" is labeled under the Car Culture line, they are a separate category of Car Culture vehicles than the usual 5-car sets, possessing different barcodes and prices.
In 2018, for Hot Wheels' 50th Anniversary, Car Culture card sizes were increased, along with the amount of decorations on the cars. A Hot Wheels "50th anniversary" logo was also placed beside the set's name on the packaging.
== Treasure Hunt series ==
Treasure Hunt (sometimes called T-Hunt) is a line of Hot Wheels cars, introduced by Mattel in 1995. It consisted of 12 cars every year (15 beginning in 2011). The original production run was 10,000 of each car worldwide; that number has since risen due to the increasing demand for Hot Wheels as a collector's item.
Treasure Hunt vehicles are identifiable by a circle flame logo placed somewhere on the vehicle and on the card right behind the car.
Treasure Hunt vehicles used to be identifiable by a label on the package. The blister card said "Treasure Hunt" or "T-Hunt" on a green bar, sometimes with an illustration of a treasure chest. Since 2013, Treasure Hunts do not have the green stripe anymore; instead, the cars are recognizable with a "flame in a circle logo" on the vehicle and behind it on the card. The cars were decorated with flashy designs and special "rubber" wheels before 2007.
In 2007, Mattel introduced a two-tiered Treasure Hunt system. A regular Treasure Hunt will feature normal enamel paint and normal wheels like other Hot Wheels cars. The production of these is rumored to be greater than previous T-Hunts. Super Treasure Hunts are much harder to find. Like Treasure Hunts of the past, a Super Treasure Hunt features premium wheels and Spectraflame paint, as well as (starting in 2015), a golden-colored circle-flame logo printed on the card behind the car. Many Hot Wheels collectors have noticed in recent times that the US Basic mixes are more likely to have a Super Treasure Hunt in them compared to International Mixes.
Before 2013, all 12 Treasure Hunt cars of a year were released in both regular and super versions. In 2012, Super Treasure Hunts came with special paint and wheels, but with series designation on the card. However, the regular T-hunts retained a special T-Hunt series card. Mattel stopped using special cards for all Treasure Hunts in 2013. Some U.S. releases in 2014 had the phrase "This symbol on the vehicle lets you know it is hard to find and highly collectible". However, in 2016, this was changed to "Congratulations! This symbol means you just found a collectible treasure-hunt car!". This would be under a silver flame logo on the card for T-Hunts. In 2015, Supers featured a gold logo on the card. Generally, Hot Wheels has targeted both kids and adults with the T-Hunt series, focusing more on the adult collecting market with Supers.
== Live-action film adaptation ==
On January 30, 2003, Columbia Pictures announced they had gained exclusive rights to developing a feature film based on the toy line Hot Wheels with McG attached to direct. Although unwritten, the premise involved a young man "trying to reconcile with his father. It's a kid who steals his dad's racecar and ends up going through a sort of Back to the Future portal into this world, and he has to reconcile his relationship with his father." In 2006, McG said that he dropped out as director and chose to produce instead. The film was to be produced by Columbia Pictures, Flying Glass of Milk Films and Silver Pictures, under license to Mattel.
In 2009, with no recent developments, the film was put into turnaround, and the rights were handed over to Warner Bros. Pictures. Joel Silver took over producing with Matt Nix writing the script.
On June 17, 2011, it was announced that Legendary Pictures was developing a film based on Hot Wheels due to the success of Fast Five by developing an edgier film. On July 10, 2013, Simon Crane and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo were named as the frontrunners to direct the film, with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway writing the film, intended to be more Mission: Impossible than Fast and Furious. On September 28, 2016, Justin Lin signed on to direct the film, which will be produced through his production company Perfect Storm Entertainment. On August 1, 2017, Lin revealed that the film was still in development. It was speculated that the film would be released as an animated direct sequel to 2003's Hot Wheels: World Race and receive additional animation development from Playground Games who had previously collaborated with Mattel to release an expansion for the video game Forza Horizon 3. However the option expired and returned to Mattel.
In late January 2019, Mattel Films and Warner Bros. Pictures agreed to partner on a Hot Wheels film.
It was announced on September 25, 2020, by The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. has hired Neil Widener and Gavin James to write the film.
On April 25, 2022, it was announced that Bad Robot would produce the film. On January 23, 2023, Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacobson-Larson were announced to write the film. On July 7, 2025, Jon M. Chu was attached to direct. Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier were also hired to work on the script.
== Sizzlers ==
The Sizzlers were a 1970s Hot Wheels spin off with a built-in motor and a tiny rechargeable battery. (The X-V racers of the 1990s were similar.) They were introduced in 1970 and became immediately popular. Sizzlers run on the regular "orange" Hot Wheels track, and Mattel created special race sets with U-Turns, multi-level spirals and loops to take advantage of the cars' electric motor. Two lane race sets such as the California/8 race set were developed that allowed Sizzlers to race side-by side, until Mattel created the black Fat Track which is three lanes wide with steep banked curves and designed to allow Sizzlers to run free. In action, Sizzlers supposedly display a unique, competitive "passing action" when running on the Fat Track, as if each car were piloted by an impatient driver trying to jockey ahead of the rest. The Fat Track sets included the "Big O", "California 500", and "Super Circuit" race sets, and accessories such as the "Scramble Start" (a four-car starting gate), "Lap Computer" four car lap counter, and "Race-Timer" stop watch.
Six cars were made in 1970, 12 cars were made in 1971, and 4 cars were made in 1972. The "Fat Daddy" Sizzlers (oversized bodies with huge tires) were introduced in 1973. Mattel put the Sizzlers on a hiatus after that year, and in 1976 they created Sizzlers II. That next year, the Night Ridin' Sizzlers (which had headlights you could turn on or off) were created. Mattel permanently stopped Sizzlers production in 1978. They were replaced by another spin off named Scorchers. The Scorchers were "pull back" cars which wound a clock spring when pulled backwards a short distance, which then propelled them forward for several feet.
Sizzlers are charged with four or two D battery chargers called the Juice Machine and Goose Pump respectively. Later, the Power Pit was introduced—which was an electric charger that plugged into any household AC outlet and resembled a race track garage or pit stop. A 90-second charge of the tiny internal NiCad battery gives up to five minutes of useful run time. It was claimed by advertisers that the 90-second charge time was "the longest minute and a half in a kid's life" as they waited impatiently for the car to charge sufficiently to get back into the race.
The Sizzler electric technology spun off into the Hotline Trains, which ran on track similar to regular Hot Wheels, and the Earthshakers construction vehicles. Both lines of vehicles were charged using the Sizzler Juice Machine or Power Pit.
In the 1990s, Mattel's trademark on the "Sizzlers" name had lapsed and toy company Playing Mantis released a new Sizzlers line based around NASCAR stock car models and copied the Fat Track as the "Stocker 400" and "Mach 500" track sets to capitalize on the booming popularity of NASCAR in that decade. The Juice Machine was renamed the "Mega-Charger" and incorporated a more efficient "trickle charge" rather than the "dump charge" of the original machines. Interest in the toys began to increase once again. They were taken off the market after Mattel filed a lawsuit against Playing Mantis. However, Sizzlers returned again in 2006, when Mattel struck an exclusive deal with Target stores to re-release Sizzlers cars, the "Big O" Fat track, Juice Machine and car carrying case—all in the original packaging from the 1970s. As of January 2009, the Sizzlers line has been discontinued by Target.
In 2011, Sizzlers were re-released as Cars 2 characters, and were sold at Target stores. This line was called Charge Ups and released under the Mattel brand name but not as part of the Hot Wheels line.
== Promotion and sponsorships ==
Hot Wheels appeared in the 2016 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
=== Motorsports ===
Starting in 1970, professional drag racers Don Prudhomme ("The Snake") and Tom McEwen ("The Mongoose") were sponsored by Hot Wheels, and later on, Hot Wheels created the Snake and Mongoose Drag Set in 1970. Later somewhere in 1972, the second versions of both driver's self-titled funny cars were released, when McEwen had the Mongoose 2, and Prudhomme had the Snake 2. The drag set remained the same. Then, Hot Wheels made rail-type dragster versions of them, based on the actual funny cars and was featured in the Wild Wheelie Set. Later in Hot Wheels' lifespan, the normal drag set with Snake and Mongoose were still being produced. The latest set with the Snake and Mongoose is in the Drag-Strip Demons lineup.
In 1970, Hot Wheels sponsored Trans-Am Series driver Dan Gurney and his All American Racers car. In 1992, Hot Wheels sponsored the Trans-Am car of Jack Baldwin as he went on to win that year's championship. Hot Wheels signed a sponsorship deal in 1997 with NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and the No. 44 PE2 Motorsports car and thus began making replicas of NASCAR stock cars. Three years later, Hot Wheels joined the Craftsman Truck Series team of Carlos Contreras and the No. 12 truck. In 2004, Hot Wheels sponsored the No. 99 car of Jeff Burton for one race at Darlington Raceway. Six years later, the company returned to NASCAR to sponsor the No. 7 JR Motorsports car of Danica Patrick at Michigan International Speedway. Hot Wheels made another one-off sponsorship in 2021 for NASCAR driver Jade Buford's No. 48 Big Machine Racing Team car at Darlington Raceway; Buford's paint scheme for the race was modeled after Gurney's Trans-Am car.
In 1999, Hot Wheels partnered with five Formula One teams to manufacture scale model Formula One cars. In 2016, Hot Wheels opened the Race to Win exhibit at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis to promote the 100th Indianapolis 500.
From 1999 to 2018, Hot Wheels had a Monster Jam license to release monster truck diecasts and field a Hot Wheels-themed truck in the real-life shows. The partnership ended in 2019 after Feld Entertainment signed a new ten year toy licensing deal with Spin Master for Monster Jam, diecast production stopped and the Hot Wheels team retired. Soon after, Hot Wheels created the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks line and the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live show with the non-Monster Jam owned version of the Bigfoot truck as a competitor. Monster Jam claimed this as a plagiarism, causing controversy.
At the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans, Hot Wheels logos appeared on the sidepods of the pair of MG-Lola EX257 prototypes entered by MG Sport & Racing.
Hot Wheels is a partner and sponsor of the Australian stunt rider Matt Mingay's Stuntz Inc team, and also sponsors him in the Stadium Super Trucks. After Mingay suffered serious facial injuries at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix in 2016, Robby Gordon drove the No. 2 Hot Wheels truck at the Townsville Street Circuit. Hot Wheels and Castrol returned to support Mingay when he made his racing return in 2020.
=== Video games ===
Various video games based on Hot Wheels have been released for numerous consoles, PCs and mobile devices:
=== Pinball ===
A coin-operated pinball machine based on Hot Wheels cars and the Hot Wheels City YouTube series was released by American Pinball in June 2020. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Testament | Old Testament | The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Israelites. The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament, written in Koine Greek.
The Old Testament consists of many distinct books by various authors produced over a period of centuries. Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections: the first five books or Pentateuch (which corresponds to the Jewish Torah); the history books telling the history of the Israelites, from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon; the poetic and wisdom literature, which explore themes of human experience, morality, and divine justice; and the books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God.
The Old Testament canon differs among Christian denominations. The Catholic canon contains 46, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches include up to 49 books, and the Protestant Bible typically has 39. Most of these books are shared across all Christian canons, corresponding to the 24 books of the Tanakh but with differences in order and text. Some books found in Christian Bibles, but not in the Hebrew canon, are called deuterocanonical books, mostly originating from the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Catholic and Orthodox churches include these, while most Protestant Bibles exclude them, though some Anglican and Lutheran versions place them in a separate section called Apocrypha.
While early histories of the ancient Israel and Judah were largely based on biblical accounts, their reliability has been increasingly questioned over time. Key debates have focused on the historicity of the Patriarchs, the Exodus, the Israelite conquest, and the United Monarchy, with archaeological evidence often challenging these narratives. Mainstream scholarship has balanced skepticism with evidence, recognizing that some biblical traditions align with archaeological findings, particularly from the 9th century BC onward.
== Content ==
The Old Testament contains 39 (Protestant), 46 (Catholic), or more (Orthodox and other) books, divided, very broadly, into the Pentateuch (Torah), the historical books, the "wisdom" books and the prophets.
The table below uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the Christian Bible, such as the Catholic New American Bible Revised Edition and the Protestant Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version. The spelling and names in both the 1609–10 Douay Old Testament (and in the 1582 Rheims New Testament) and the 1749 revision by Bishop Challoner (the edition currently in print used by many Catholics, and the source of traditional Catholic spellings in English) and in the Septuagint differ from those spellings and names used in modern editions which are derived from the Hebrew Masoretic Text.
For the Orthodox canon, Septuagint titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. For the Catholic canon, the Douaic titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. Likewise, the King James Version references some of these books by the traditional spelling when referring to them in the New Testament, such as "Esaias" (for Isaiah).
In the spirit of ecumenism, more recent Catholic translations (e.g. the New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and ecumenical translations used by Catholics, such as the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition) use the same "standardized" (King James Version) spellings and names as Protestant Bibles (e.g. 1 Chronicles as opposed to the Douaic 1 Paralipomenon, 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings instead of 1–4 Kings) in those books which are universally considered canonical: the protocanonicals.
The Talmud (the Jewish commentary on the scriptures) in Bava Batra 14b gives a different order for the books in Nevi'im and Ketuvim. This order is also cited in Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7:15. The order of the books of the Torah is universal through all denominations of Judaism and Christianity.
The disputed books, included in most canons but not in others, are often called the Biblical apocrypha, a term that is sometimes used specifically to describe the books in the Catholic and Orthodox canons that are absent from the Jewish Masoretic Text and most modern Protestant Bibles. Catholics, following the Canon of Trent (1546), describe these books as deuterocanonical, while Greek Orthodox Christians, following the Synod of Jerusalem (1672), use the traditional name of anagignoskomena, meaning "that which is to be read." They are present in a few historic Protestant versions; the German Luther Bible included such books, as did the English 1611 King James Version.
Empty table cells indicate that a book is absent from that canon.
Several of the books in the Eastern Orthodox canon are also found in the appendix to the Latin Vulgate, formerly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
== Historicity ==
=== Early scholarship ===
Some of the stories of the Pentateuch may derive from older sources. Scholars such as Andrew R. George point out the similarity between the Genesis flood narrative and the Gilgamesh flood myth. Similarities between the origin story of Moses and that of Sargon of Akkad were noted by psychoanalyst Otto Rank in 1909 and popularized by 20th-century writers, such as H. G. Wells and Joseph Campbell. Jacob Bronowski writes that "the Bible is ... part folklore and part record. History is ... written by the victors, and the Israelis, when they burst through [Jericho (c. 1400 BC)], became the carriers of history."
=== Recent scholarship ===
In 2007, a historian of ancient Judaism Lester L. Grabbe explained that earlier biblical scholars such as Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) could be described as 'maximalist', accepting biblical text unless it has been disproven. Continuing in this tradition, both "the 'substantial historicity' of the patriarchs" and "the unified conquest of the land" were widely accepted in the United States until about the 1970s. Contrarily, Grabbe says that those in his field now "are all minimalists – at least, when it comes to the patriarchal period and the settlement. ... [V]ery few are willing to operate [as maximalists]."
In 2022, archaeologist Avraham Faust summarized recent scholarship arguing that while early histories of Israel were heavily based on biblical accounts, their reliability has been increasingly questioned over time. He continued that key debates have focused on the historicity of the Patriarchs, the Exodus, the Israelite conquest, and the United Monarchy, with archaeological evidence often challenging these narratives. He concluded that while the minimalist school of the 1990s dismissed the Bible's historical value, mainstream scholarship has balanced skepticism with evidence, recognizing that some biblical traditions align with archaeological findings, particularly from the 9th century BC onward.
== Composition ==
The first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—reached their present form in the Persian period (538–332 BC), and their authors were the elite of exilic returnees who controlled the Temple at that time. The books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel and Kings follow, forming a history of Israel from the Conquest of Canaan to the Siege of Jerusalem c. 587 BC. There is a broad consensus among scholars that these originated as a single work (the so-called "Deuteronomistic History") during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC.
The two Books of Chronicles cover much the same material as the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic history and probably date from the 4th century BC. Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah were probably finished during the 3rd century BC. Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments contain two (Catholic Old Testament) to four (Orthodox) Books of the Maccabees, written in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.
These history books make up around half the total content of the Old Testament. Of the remainder, the books of the various prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve "minor prophets"—were written between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, with the exceptions of Jonah and Daniel, which were written much later. The "wisdom" books—Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs—have various dates: Proverbs possibly was completed by the Hellenistic time (332–198 BC), though containing much older material as well; Job was completed by the 6th century BC; Ecclesiastes by the 3rd century BC.
== Themes ==
Throughout the Old Testament, God is consistently depicted as the one who created the world. Although the God of the Old Testament is not consistently presented as the only god who exists, he is always depicted as the only God whom Israel is to worship, or the one "true God", that only Yahweh (or YHWH) is Almighty.
The Old Testament stresses the special relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel, but includes instructions for proselytes as well. This relationship is expressed in the biblical covenant (contract) between the two, received by Moses. The law codes in books such as Exodus and especially Deuteronomy are the terms of the contract: Israel swears faithfulness to God, and God swears to be Israel's special protector and supporter. However, The Jewish Study Bible denies that the word covenant (brit in Hebrew) means "contract"; in the ancient Near East, a covenant would have been sworn before the gods, who would be its enforcers. As God is part of the agreement, and not merely witnessing it, The Jewish Study Bible instead interprets the term to refer to a pledge.
Further themes in the Old Testament include salvation, redemption, divine judgment, obedience and disobedience, faith and faithfulness, among others. Throughout there is a strong emphasis on ethics and ritual purity, both of which God demands, although some of the prophets and wisdom writers seem to question this, arguing that God demands social justice above purity, and perhaps does not even care about purity at all. The Old Testament's moral code enjoins fairness, intervention on behalf of the vulnerable, and the duty of those in power to administer justice righteously. It forbids murder, bribery and corruption, deceitful trading, and many sexual misdemeanours. All morality is traced back to God, who is the source of all goodness.
The problem of evil plays a large part in the Old Testament. The problem the Old Testament authors faced was that a good God must have had just reason for bringing disaster (meaning notably, but not only, the Babylonian exile) upon his people. The theme is played out, with many variations, in books as different as the histories of Kings and Chronicles, the prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and in the wisdom books like Job and Ecclesiastes.
== Formation ==
The process by which scriptures became canons and Bibles was a long one, and its complexities account for the many different Old Testaments which exist today. Timothy H. Lim, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh, identifies the Old Testament as "a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing." He states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. By about the 5th century BC, Jews saw the five books of the Torah (the Old Testament Pentateuch) as having authoritative status; by the 2nd century BC, the Prophets had a similar status, although without quite the same level of respect as the Torah.
=== Greek ===
Hebrew texts began to be translated into Greek in Alexandria in about 280 BC and continued until about 130 BC. These early Greek translations – supposedly commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus – were called the Septuagint (Latin for 'Seventy') from the supposed number of translators involved (hence its abbreviation "LXX"). This Septuagint remains the basis of the Old Testament in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
It varies in many places from the Masoretic Text and includes numerous books no longer considered canonical in some traditions: 1 Esdras, Judith, Tobit, the books of Maccabees, the Book of Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch. Early modern biblical criticism typically explained these variations as intentional or ignorant corruptions by the Alexandrian scholars, but most recent scholarship holds it is simply based on early source texts differing from those later used by the Masoretes in their work.
The Septuagint was originally used by Hellenized Jews whose knowledge of Greek was better than Hebrew. However, the texts came to be used predominantly by gentile converts to Christianity and by the early Church as its scripture, Greek being the lingua franca of the early Church. The three most acclaimed early interpreters were Aquila of Sinope, Symmachus the Ebionite, and Theodotion; in his Hexapla, Origen placed his edition of the Hebrew text beside its transcription in Greek letters and four parallel translations: Aquila's, Symmachus's, the Septuagint's, and Theodotion's. The so-called "fifth" and "sixth editions" were two other Greek translations supposedly miraculously discovered by students outside the towns of Jericho and Nicopolis: these were added to Origen's Octapla.
In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople. Athanasius recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. There is no evidence among the canons of the First Council of Nicaea of any determination on the canon. However, Jerome (347–420), in his Prologue to Judith, claims that the Book of Judith was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures".
=== Latin ===
In Western Christianity or Christianity in the Western half of the Roman Empire, Latin had displaced Greek as the common language of the early Christians, and in 382 AD Pope Damasus I commissioned Jerome, the leading scholar of the day, to produce an updated Latin Bible to replace the Vetus Latina, which was a Latin translation of the Septuagint. Jerome's work, called the Vulgate, was a direct translation from Hebrew, since he argued for the superiority of the Hebrew texts in correcting the Septuagint on both philological and theological grounds. His Vulgate Old Testament became the standard Bible used in the Western Church, specifically as the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, while the Churches in the East continued, and continue, to use the Septuagint.
Jerome, however, in the Vulgate's prologues, describes some portions of books in the Septuagint not found in the Hebrew Bible as being non-canonical (he called them apocrypha); for Baruch, he mentions by name in his Prologue to Jeremiah and notes that it is neither read nor held among the Hebrews, but does not explicitly call it apocryphal or "not in the canon". The Synod of Hippo (in 393), followed by the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Carthage (419), may be the first council that explicitly accepted the first canon which includes the books that did not appear in the Hebrew Bible; the councils were under significant influence of Augustine of Hippo, who regarded the canon as already closed.
=== Protestant canon ===
In the 16th century, the Protestant reformers sided with Jerome; yet although most Protestant Bibles now have only those books that appear in the Hebrew Bible, the order is that of the Greek Bible.
Rome then officially adopted a canon, the Canon of Trent, which is seen as following Augustine's Carthaginian Councils or the Council of Rome, and includes most, but not all, of the Septuagint (3 Ezra and 3 and 4 Maccabees are excluded); the Anglicans after the English Civil War adopted a compromise position, restoring the 39 Articles and keeping the extra books that were excluded by the Westminster Confession of Faith, both for private study and for reading in churches but not for establishing any doctrine, while Lutherans kept them for private study, gathered in an appendix as biblical apocrypha.
=== Other versions ===
While the Hebrew, Greek and Latin versions of the Hebrew Bible are the best known Old Testaments, there were others. At much the same time as the Septuagint was being produced, translations were being made into Aramaic, the language of Jews living in Palestine and the Near East and likely the language of Jesus: these are called the Aramaic Targums, from a word meaning "translation", and were used to help Jewish congregations understand their scriptures.
For Aramaic Christians, there was a Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Peshitta, as well as versions in Coptic (the everyday language of Egypt in the first Christian centuries, descended from ancient Egyptian), Ethiopic (for use in the Ethiopian church, one of the oldest Christian churches), Armenian (Armenia was the first to adopt Christianity as its official religion), and Arabic.
== Christian theology ==
Christian interpretation refers to the "Old Testament" as such only because there is a "New Testament" to which it relates. The name "Old Testament" reflects Christianity's understanding of itself as the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy of a New Covenant (which is similar to "testament" and often conflated) to replace the preceding covenant between God and Israel (Jeremiah 31:31). The emphasis, however, has shifted from Judaism's understanding of the covenant as a racially or tribally based pledge between God and the Jewish people, to one between God and any person of faith who is "in Christ".
Relating the Old and New Testaments, the Second Vatican Council outlines a Catholic theology wherein "God, the inspirer and author of both Testaments, wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old be made manifest in the New". Dennis Hamm sees the Council's teaching as a counter to the "perennial temptation ... to dismiss the Old Testament as irrelevant for Christians".
Christianity draws from its belief that the historical Jesus is also the Christ, as in the Confession of Peter. This belief is in turn based on Jewish understandings of the meaning of the Hebrew term Messiah, which, like the Greek "Christ", means "anointed". The Hebrew Scriptures describes a king anointed with oil on his accession to the throne: he becomes "The LORD's anointed" or Yahweh's Anointed.
By the time of Jesus, some Jews expected that a flesh-and-blood descendant of David (the "Son of David") would come to establish a real Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem, instead of the Roman province of Judaea. Others stressed the Son of Man, a distinctly other-worldly figure who would appear as a judge at the end of time. Some expounded a synthesised view of both positions, where a messianic kingdom of this world would last for a set period and be followed by the other-worldly age or World to Come.
Some thought the Messiah was already present, but unrecognised due to Israel's sins; some thought that the Messiah would be announced by a forerunner, probably Elijah (as promised by the prophet Malachi, whose book now ends the Old Testament and precedes Mark's account of John the Baptist). However, no view of the Messiah as based on the Old Testament predicted a Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of all people. The story of Jesus' death, therefore, involved a profound shift in meaning from the Old Testament tradition. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_Knight | Gladys Knight | Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips), and is often referred to as the "Empress of Soul".
Knight has recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For" which she did with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder), eleven number-one R&B singles and six number-one R&B albums. In 1989, Knight recorded the theme song for the James Bond film Licence to Kill.
Two of her songs ("I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight Train to Georgia") were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. She is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time (2010). She is also a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honors.
== Early life ==
Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 28, 1944, to Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods), a nurse's aide, and Merald Woodlow Knight Sr., a postal worker. Her parents were members of both the church choir and a local choir group. She has a sister, Brenda, and two brothers, Merald "Bubba" Jr. and David "Billy".
Knight was raised Baptist and began singing gospel music at age four at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Atlanta. At the age of eight, she won Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour TV show contest singing Nat King Cole's "Too Young." Shortly after, Knight along with her brother Bubba, sister Brenda, and cousins Eleanor and William Guest performed together during Bubba's tenth birthday party after a record player malfunctioned. The quintet later formed a group at the encouragement of Knight's mother. The group settled on the name The Pips, inspired by the nickname of their cousin and manager, James "Pip" Woods.
The Pips performed at church, talent shows, and clubs opening for popular acts, then signed with Brunswick Records in 1957 and began releasing singles. After a few lineup changes, the group debuted their first album in 1960 when Knight was just 16. By then, she had recorded five songs and released her first hit single, “Every Beat of My Heart.” The group's success was later halted by Knight's departure to start a family with husband and musician Jimmy Newman, resuming soon after when she returned.
Knight attended the historic Booker T. Washington High School, in Atlanta, later transferring and graduating from Archer High School.
== Success with the Pips ==
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown Records roster in 1966 (with only three hits to their credit - "Every Beat of My Heart", "Giving Up" and "Letter Full of Tears"), and, although initially regarded as a second-string act by the label, scored several major hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (number one in 1967) (released later by Marvin Gaye), "The Nitty Gritty" (1969), "Friendship Train" (1969), "If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), the Grammy Award–winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" (1972), and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973). In their early Motown career, Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and the Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Knight that she was giving his act a hard time.
The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved even greater mainstream success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train to Georgia" (number one on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination", "The Way We Were/Try To Remember" and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield, which included the songs "On and On", "The Makings of You" and "Make Yours a Happy Home".
The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. Several of the Buddah singles became hits in the UK several years after their release in the US. For example, "Midnight Train to Georgia" hit the Top 5 of the UK singles chart in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S.
Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo LP recordings—Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. After divorcing James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson, then Detroit mayor Coleman Young's executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Hankerson and Knight became embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali. In 1980, Johnny Mathis invited Knight to record two duets— "When A Child Is Born" (previously a hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer".
Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two albums: About Love (1980), which included the hit "Landlord" and Touch (1981).
In 1983, Gladys Knight and the Pips scored again with the hit "Save the Overtime (For Me)". The song, under the artistic direction of Leon Sylvers III (known for collaborating on Shalamar hits), was done in a soulful boogie style. The single was released from their LP "Visions" and reached number 66 on the Hot 100, but was more successful on the R&B where it hit number one for a single week in mid 1983. The single was the first time the group hit number one on the R&B chart since 1974. The video accompanying the song became among the earliest R&B videos to incorporate elements of hip hop culture. The album also included the R&B hit "You're Number One (In My Book)".
In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its infectious lead single, "Love Overboard", was a number-one R&B hit and won another Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.
In 1994, Quaker Oats launched a high-profile advertising Campaign advertising for Aunt Jemima featuring Knight as the brand's first celebrity spokesperson. The campaign was part of a strategic effort to modernize the brand's image and address long-standing criticisms regarding its origins in Racial stereotyping in advertising. A major television commercial featuring Knight first aired on October 22, 1994. This time, officially replacing the Aunt Jemima character as she plays her own self. Her actual children were physically shown in the commercial. The commercial featured the campaigns new jingle, "Now You're Cookin'!". Though the campaign was initially thought to have done well, it was met with significant Controversy. While some viewed it as a positive step toward humanizing the brand, others and Civil rights movement advocates argued about the fact that they endorsed a prominent Black celebrity to endorse the brand as such was historically exploitative. Despite this, the brand and image was forced to be retired in 2021, now changed to a brand new Pearl Milling Company logo.
== Solo career and other musical endeavors ==
While still with the Pips, Gladys Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1985 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For", a number one hit, which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
Knight shared a stage with Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle for the 1986 HBO special Sisters in the Name of Love, which she co-executive produced and received three ACE Awards for Performance in a Music Special, as well as nominations for Best Music Special and Costume Design in 1987. On March 27, 1988, Knight performed a rendition of "America the Beautiful" at Wrestlemania 4 in Atlantic City, NJ. In 1989, she recorded "Licence to Kill", the title track for James Bond film of the same name, a Top-10 hit in the UK and Germany.
Knight released her third and most successful solo LP, Good Woman, on MCA in 1991, which hit number one on the R&B album chart, featured the number 2 R&B hit "Men", and reached number 45 on the main Billboard album chart — her all-time-highest showing. The album also featured "Superwoman", written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle; the track was nominated for a Grammy. Knight and LaBelle collaborated the same year on "I Don't Do Duets", for LaBelle's album Burnin'. Also in 1991, Knight performed the national anthem at Game 1 of the World Series.
Her fourth solo album, Just for You, went Gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. The fifth solo album, At Last, earned her first solo Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Album in 2000.
Knight created and directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.
In April 2004, Knight co-headlined the VH1's benefit concert Divas Live 2004 alongside Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, Jessica Simpson, Joss Stone, Debbie Harry, and Patti LaBelle, in support of the Save the Music Foundation.
In 2005, a duet between Knight and Ray Charles of "You Were There" was released on Charles' duets album Genius & Friends.
In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Diana Ross at the 'Divas with Heart' concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York's Radio City Hall. Also in 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity.
In 2009, Knight sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.
In September 2011, a new, updated recording of Shirley Bassey's 1960s classic "I (Who Have Nothing)" was released on iTunes and Amazon.
In 2013, Knight recorded the Lenny Kravitz-written and -produced song "You And I Ain't Nothin' No More" for the soundtrack from Lee Daniels' motion picture The Butler. The song was added to the movie's soundtrack of older songs with various artists so the producers could nominate it for Best Song from a Motion Picture category at the Academy Awards.
Where My Heart Belongs (2014) marked her 30th top-40 R&B album, including work by Gladys Knight & the Pips. In a 2014 interview, she expressed a hope that women would "Stand Up" and stop selling sex in the music/entertainment industry. She commented that the growing trend saddened her heart and that she had been taught to dress respectfully for her audiences ... "not take it off, put it on." Knight is ranked number 18 on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.
In 2019, Knight accepted an invitation to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIII. She faced criticism for agreeing to perform due to the alleged blacklisting of Colin Kaepernick by the National Football League after he began protesting police brutality during pre-game anthem ceremonies. Similar criticism was expressed against the half-time show performers, Maroon 5, Travis Scott, and Big Boi. Knight defended her decision to sing, claiming to understand Kaepernick's reasons for protesting but criticizing him for kneeling during the national anthem.
In 2019, Knight was invited to play at the 100th Anniversary of Delaware State Fair, located in Harrington, Delaware.
In 2022, Knight received Kennedy Center Honors, presented by U.S. President Joe Biden. She also headlined a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Dinner at the White House.
=== Farewell tours ===
In October 2009, Knight started her farewell tour of the United Kingdom, which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick.
The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production values than previous "Gladys Knight, a mic and a light" appearances by Knight in the UK. A glossy program was available and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program Later... with Jools Holland where Knight performed "If I Were Your Woman" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night".
In spite of her "farewell", Knight started touring the UK again a few years later, playing gigs in Scotland and England in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024. A farewell tour of Australia and New Zealand was announced for March 2024.
== Acting ==
=== Film ===
In 1976, Knight made her acting debut as the lead in the film Pipe Dreams for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. In 2003, she had a small role in the movie Hollywood Homicide, which starred Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett. In 2009, Knight was featured in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself, the film version of a play he had dramatized, and performed her song "The Need To Be" from the 1974 album I Feel a Song.
=== Television ===
In 1975, Knight starred in a variety show, The Gladys Knight and the Pips Show, which was canceled after four episodes. She also guest-starred on several TV series throughout the 1980s and 1990s, appearing on Benson, The Jeffersons, A Different World, Living Single, The Jamie Foxx Show, and New York Undercover. In 1985, she co-starred on the CBS sitcom Charlie & Co., alongside comedian Flip Wilson, which lasted for one season.
In April 2005, she portrayed a singer in an episode of JAG. In April 2009, she made a special guest appearance, and performed a song, on Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Knight has also made a number of cameo appearances, including on Las Vegas and 30 Rock. In 2012, she began a recurring role in the syndicated sitcom The First Family.
In 2012, Knight competed on season 14 of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Tristan MacManus. They were eliminated on April 24 after losing a "dance duel" to Disney Channel star Roshon Fegan and partner Chelsie Hightower, ironically on the show's "Motown Week".
In 2017, she appeared as herself in the musical-drama TV series Star.
In 2018, she played Ella Grover, mother of Captain Lou Grover, in the "Lele pū nā manu like" ("Birds of a Feather...") episode of Hawaii Five-0, which first aired on November 16, 2018.
In February 2019, she was revealed to have competed as "Bee" on the first season of The Masked Singer, in which she placed third. She performed "Chandelier", "Locked Out of Heaven", "Wrecking Ball", "What's Love Got to Do with It", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", and "I Can't Make You Love Me". She finished behind Donny Osmond as "Peacock" and T-Pain as "Monster".
== Business ventures ==
Knight's son Shanga Hankerson owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name. Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles opened three locations in the Atlanta area. One location was featured on the Travel Channel original series Man v. Food. In June 2016, authorities in Georgia raided two of the restaurants and its headquarters.
In 2016, WSB-TV reported that Hankerson was at the center of an investigation involving unpaid taxes, penalties and interest. Georgia Department of Revenue Special Investigations Chief Jeff Mitchell told the station that the investigation solely involved Hankerson and not Knight.
== Personal life ==
In 1960, Knight married Atlanta musician and high school sweetheart James "Jimmy" Newman. The couple had a miscarriage and went on to have two children. Their son, James "Jimmy" Gaston Newman III, was born in 1962, and their daughter, Kenya Maria Newman, was born in 1963. In the early 1960s, Knight's family and the Pips moved to Detroit. The family lived in Sherwood Forest, an upscale neighborhood on Detroit's West Side. Knight retired from the road to raise their children while the Pips toured on their own, later returning with Newman as the group's musical director. Newman later became addicted to drugs and left the family when Knight was 20. They remained married for over 12 years and were separated for 7 years until their divorce in 1973. Newman died a few years later.
In 1974, Knight married Barry Hankerson, founder of Blackground Records, in Detroit. The couple had a son, Shanga Ali Hankerson, born on August 1, 1976. Around 1977, they relocated to Las Vegas. Their marriage ended in 1979 with a prolonged custody battle over their son. Knight spent over a million dollars searching for her son after he was kidnapped. In 1995, Knight married motivational speaker Les Brown, divorcing in 1997.
Knight was raised a Baptist, later was a Catholic, and was baptized in 1997 into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, inspired by her daughter and son who had left Catholicism to join. She had occasionally teased LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley, saying they needed to inject some "pep" into their music. He agreed, which resulted in the founding of the Saints Unified Voices gospel choir directed by Knight. In 2018, Knight led the Be One Choir at the "Be One" event in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Knight has an honorary doctorate from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Knight's son Jimmy Newman III managed her career through his Newman Management Inc. until his death from heart failure on July 10, 1999, at age 36. Newman was survived by his wife, Michelene; daughters Nastasia and Gabrielle; and sons Rishawn, Stefan, and Sterling. Following his death, her daughter Kenya Jackson took over management.
Knight married William McDowell in 2001. They have seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren between them. Knight and McDowell reside in Fairview, North Carolina, near where they own a community center, the former Reynolds High School in Canton attended by McDowell.
Linebacker Demetrius Knight comes from the same Knight family; he and Gladys are "distant cousins."
In 2017, Knight helped raise $400,000 for the Children's Learning Centers of Fairfield County, in Stamford, Connecticut. The event was held at the Palace Theatre and was co-hosted by Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter.
Knight had a gambling addiction that lasted more than a decade. In the late 1980s, after losing $60,000 in one night at the baccarat table, she joined Gamblers Anonymous, which helped her quit the habit.
== Legacy ==
In 1996, Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One year before, Knight had received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, Knight received the Society of Singers ELLA Award at which time she was declared the "Empress of Soul". She is listed on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2021, Knight received the National Medal of Arts. And, in 2022, Knight received a Kennedy Center Honor. In 2023, Knight received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Miss Gladys Knight (1978)
Gladys Knight (1979)
Good Woman (1991)
Just for You (1994)
Many Different Roads (1998)
At Last (2000)
One Voice (with Saints Unified Voices) (2005)
Before Me (2006)
Another Journey (2013)
Where My Heart Belongs (2014)
== Published works ==
Knight, Gladys. At Home With Gladys Knight, McGraw-Hill, 2001 – ISBN 1-58040-075-2
Knight, Gladys. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, Hyperion Press, 1998 – ISBN 0-7868-8371-5
== Filmography ==
=== Films ===
=== Television ===
== Awards, honors, and achievements ==
=== Grammy Awards ===
Knight has won seven Grammys with twenty-two nominations altogether.
=== Other awards and honors ===
1992: Essence Award for Career Achievement
1995: Hollywood Walk of Fame
1996: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1997: Trumpet Awards Foundation Pinnacle Award
2005: BET Lifetime Achievement Award
2007: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist
2007: Society of Singers Ella Award, also declared the "Empress of Soul"
2008: BET Inaugural Best Living Legend Award
2008: National Black Arts Festival Honoree at Legends Celebration
2011: Soul Train Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award
2017: National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame
2019: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
2021: National Medal of Arts
2022: 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors
=== Honorary degrees ===
Honorary Doctorate in Performing Arts, Shaw University |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fripp | Robert Fripp | Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and only constant member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session musician and collaborator, notably with David Bowie, Blondie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill, Daryl Hall, the Roches, Talking Heads, and David Sylvian. He also composed the startup sound of Windows Vista, in collaboration with Tucker Martine and Steve Ball. His discography includes contributions to more than 700 official releases.
His compositions often feature unusual asymmetric rhythms, influenced by classical and folk traditions. His innovations include a tape delay system known as "Frippertronics" (superseded in the 1990s by a more sophisticated digital system called "Soundscapes") and New Standard Tuning.
Fripp is married to English singer and actress Toyah Willcox.
== Early life ==
Robert Fripp was born in Wimborne Minster, a town in Dorset, England, the second child of a working-class family. His mother Edith (née Greene; 1914–1993) was from a Welsh mining family; Fripp considers himself to be half Welsh. Her earnings from working at the Bournemouth Records Office allowed his father, Arthur Henry Fripp (1910–1985) to start a business as an estate agent. In 1957, at age eleven, Fripp received a guitar for Christmas from his parents and recalled, "Almost immediately I knew that this guitar was going to be my life". He then took guitar lessons from Kathleen Gartell and Don Strike; Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore inspired Fripp to play rock and roll, moving on to traditional jazz at thirteen and modern jazz at fifteen. Fripp has cited jazz musicians Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus as musical influences during this time.
In 1961, the fifteen-year-old Fripp joined his first band, the Ravens, which also included Gordon Haskell on bass. After they split in the following year, Fripp concentrated on his O-level studies and joined his father's firm as a junior negotiator. At this point, he intended to study estate management and, eventually, take over his father's business. However, at seventeen, Fripp decided to become a professional musician. He became the guitarist in the jazz outfit The Douglas Ward Trio, playing in the Chewton Glen hotel in New Milton, followed by a stint in the rock and roll band The League of Gentlemen, which included two former Ravens members. For a time, he gave guitar lessons to a local Wimborne friend, Al Stewart, who went on to achieve fame as a singer-songwriter. Much later, when Fripp was asked if any of his guitar students had found success, he replied, "Only one of them ever made it, and that was Al Stewart, and he did it by ignoring everything I ever tried to teach him.”
In 1965, Fripp left the group to attend Bournemouth College, where he studied economics, economic history, and political history for his A-levels. In February 1965, Fripp went to see the Duke Ellington Orchestra, an experience which moved him deeply. He subsequently spent three further years playing light jazz in the Majestic Dance Orchestra at Bournemouth's Majestic Hotel (replacing Andy Summers, who had left for London with Zoot Money). During this time, Fripp met musicians that he would collaborate with in his career, including John Wetton, Richard Palmer-James, and Greg Lake. At age 21, going back home from college late at night, Fripp tuned on to Radio Luxembourg, where he heard the last moments of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life". "Galvanized" by the experience, he went on to listen to the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Béla Bartók's string quartets, Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Many years later, Fripp would recall that "although all the dialects are different, the voice was the same... I knew I couldn't say no". As a band leader, Fripp pointed out that Miles Davis and Duke Ellington inspired him to seek "constant change".
== Career ==
=== 1967–1974: Giles, Giles and Fripp and King Crimson ===
In 1967, Fripp responded to an advertisement placed by Bournemouth-born brothers Peter and Michael Giles, who wanted to work with a singing organist. Though Fripp was not what they sought, his audition with them was a success and the trio relocated to London and became Giles, Giles and Fripp. Their only studio album, The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp, was released in 1968. Despite the recruitment of two further members – singer Judy Dyble (formerly with Fairport Convention and later of Trader Horne) and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald – Fripp felt that he was outgrowing the eccentric pop approach favoured by Peter Giles, preferring the more ambitious compositions being written by McDonald, and the band broke up in 1968.
Almost immediately, Fripp, McDonald and Michael Giles formed the first lineup of King Crimson in mid-1968, recruiting Fripp's old Bournemouth College friend Greg Lake as lead singer and bassist and McDonald's writing partner Peter Sinfield as lyricist, light show designer and general creative consultant. King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, was released in late 1969 to great success: drawing on rock, jazz and European folk/classical music ideas, it is now regarded as one of the most influential albums in the history of progressive rock. The band was tipped for stardom, but, due to growing musical differences between Fripp on one side and Giles and McDonald on the other, broke up after its first American tour in 1970. A despondent Fripp offered to leave if it would allow King Crimson to survive; however, Giles and McDonald had independently decided that the band's music was "more Fripp's than theirs" and that it would be better if they were the ones to leave.
During the recording of the band's second album In the Wake of Poseidon, Greg Lake departed to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer with Keith Emerson of the Nice and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster. King Crimson issued two more albums, Lizard and Islands, with Fripp and Sinfield the only constants in a regularly changing lineup variously including Gordon Haskell, woodwind player Mel Collins, drummers Andy McCulloch and Ian Wallace and future Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell, in addition to a palette of guest players. Fripp was listed as the sole composer of the band's music during this time, which built on the first album's blueprint but progressed further into jazz-rock and free jazz while also taking form from Sinfield's esoteric lyrical and mythological concepts.
In 1971, Fripp ousted Sinfield and took over de facto leadership of King Crimson (although he has always formally rejected the label, preferring to describe his role as "quality control" or "a kind of glue"). From this point onwards, Fripp would be the only constant member of the band, which in turn would be defined primarily by his compositional and conceptual ideas. With avant-garde percussionist Jamie Muir, violinist David Cross, former Family bassist and singer John Wetton and former Yes drummer Bill Bruford now in the ranks, King Crimson produced three more albums of innovative and increasingly experimental rock, shedding members as they progressed: beginning with Larks' Tongues in Aspic, progressing with Starless and Bible Black after Muir's departure and culminating in Red after Cross was fired. Fripp formally disbanded the group in 1974, in what eventually turned out to be merely the first in a regular series of long hiatuses and further transformations.
=== 1971–1985: Collaborations, side projects, and solo career ===
Fripp pursued side projects during King Crimson's less active periods. He worked with Keith Tippett (and others who appeared on King Crimson records) on projects far from rock music, playing with and producing Centipede's Septober Energy in 1971 and Ovary Lodge in 1973. During this period he also worked with Van der Graaf Generator, playing on their albums H to He, Who Am the Only One and Pawn Hearts. He produced Matching Mole's Matching Mole's Little Red Record in 1972. Prior to forming the Larks-era KC, he collaborated on a spoken-word album with a woman he described as "a witch", but the resulting Robert Fripp & Walli Elmlark: The Cosmic Children of Rock was never officially released.
With Brian Eno, Fripp recorded (No Pussyfooting) in 1972, and Evening Star in 1974. These experimented with several avant-garde musical techniques that were new to rock. On "The Heavenly Music Corporation" from (No Pussyfooting), Fripp used a delay system using two modified Revox A77 reel-to-reel tape machines. The technique went on to play a central role in Fripp's later work, and became known as "Frippertronics".
In 1973, Fripp performed the guitar solo on "Baby's on Fire" from Eno's solo album Here Come the Warm Jets. In 1975, Fripp and Eno played live shows in Europe, and Fripp also contributed guitar solos to Eno's 1975 album Another Green World.
Fripp started what was intended as a permanent sabbatical from his musical career in 1975, during which he studied at J. G. Bennett's International Academy for Continuous Education, becoming interested in the mystical and philosophical ideas of Bennett's teacher George Gurdjieff. He returned to musical work the following year as a session guitarist on Peter Gabriel's debut solo album, released in 1977. Fripp toured with Gabriel to support the album, but used the pseudonym "Dusty Rhodes" and concealed himself on stage.
Fripp also produced and played on Gabriel's second album in 1978. "Robert is particularly skilful at keeping things fresh, and I like that a lot," Gabriel enthused. "I was very interested in Robert's experimental side; that corresponded exactly to what I wanted to do on this second record… There are two (Fripp) solos: one on 'On the Air' and the other on 'White Shadow'. And then he plays on 'Exposure'. He gives the colour to this piece, being fifty per cent responsible for its construction. And he also plays classical guitar here and there. He's a musician I admire a lot, because he's one of the only ones to mix discipline and madness with so much talent."
In 1977, Fripp played on David Bowie's album "Heroes" at Eno's invitation. Fripp soon collaborated with Daryl Hall on Sacred Songs.
During this period, Fripp began working on solo material, with contributions from poet/lyricist Joanna Walton and several other musicians, including Eno, Gabriel, and Hall (including the latter's partner, John Oates), as well as Peter Hammill, Jerry Marotta, Phil Collins, Tony Levin and Terre Roche. This material eventually became his first solo album, Exposure, released in 1979, followed by the Frippertronics tour in the same year.
While living in New York, Fripp contributed to albums and live performances by Blondie (Parallel Lines) and Talking Heads (Fear of Music), and produced The Roches' first and third albums, which featured several of Fripp's characteristic guitar solos. A second set of sessions with Bowie produced Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and he collaborated with Gabriel again on his third solo album. With Blondie, Fripp appeared live on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon on 12 January 1980, participating in a cover version of Bowie's "'Heroes'".
In 1980, Fripp would release God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners, a project that saw two different musical approaches to Frippertronics on one LP. The "A" side of the record, titled "God Save the Queen" attempted what Fripp referred to as "pure Frippertronics" which is "where Frippertronics is used alone." The "B" side of the record, titled "Under Heavy Manners" featured a collaboration with bassist Busta Jones, drummer Paul Duskin, and David Byrne of Talking Heads (as Absalm el Habib). The sounds of this side of the record featured what Fripp called "Discotronics" which was defined as "that musical experience resulting at the interstice of Frippertronics and disco."
Concurrent to this, Fripp would assemble what he called a "second-division touring new wave instrumental dance band" under the name League of Gentlemen, with bassist Sara Lee, keyboardist Barry Andrews and drummer Johnny Elichaoff (credited as "Johnny Toobad"). Elichaoff was later replaced by Kevin Wilkinson. The LOG toured for the duration of 1980.
In 1985 he produced the album Journey to Inaccessible Places by classical pianist Elan Sicroff, released on the Editions E.G. label.
=== 1981–1984: Reforming King Crimson ===
1981 saw the formation of a new King Crimson lineup, reuniting Fripp with Bruford and opening a new partnership with two American musicians: bassist/Chapman Stick player Tony Levin (who had played with Fripp on Exposure and in the first Peter Gabriel touring band) and Adrian Belew, a singer and guitarist who had previously played with Bowie, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa. Although the band had been conceptualised under the name Discipline, it came to Fripp's attention that the other members thought the name King Crimson was more appropriate: for Fripp, King Crimson had always been "a way of doing things" rather than a particular group of musicians. With the more pop-inspired Belew as main songwriter (complementing Fripp as main instrumental composer) the band took on a new style incorporating influences from Indonesian gamelan, new wave, and classical minimalism, with both guitarists experimenting extensively with guitar synthesizers. After releasing three albums (Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair), Fripp dissolved the band in 1984.
During this period Fripp made two albums with Andy Summers of The Police. On I Advance Masked, Fripp and Summers played all the instruments. Bewitched was dominated more by Summers, who produced the record and collaborated with other musicians in addition to Fripp.
In 1982 Fripp produced and played guitar on Keep On Doing by the Roches. Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau wrote that the album "sounds so good I'm beginning to believe Robert Fripp was put on earth to produce the Roches."
=== Guitar Craft ===
Fripp was offered a teaching position at the American Society for Continuous Education (ASCE) at Claymont Court in Charles Town, West Virginia, in 1984. He had been involved with the ASCE since 1978, eventually serving on its board of directors, and had long been considering the idea of teaching guitar through ideas derived from Bennett and Gurdjieff. His course, Guitar Craft, was begun in 1985, an offshoot of which was a performance group, "the League of Crafty Guitarists", which has released several albums. In 1986, he released the first of two collaborations with his wife, Toyah Willcox. The members of the California Guitar Trio are former members of The League of Crafty Guitarists and have also toured with King Crimson. Fripp is the patron of the Guitar Circle of Europe, which was founded in 2007, and of the Seattle Circle Guitar School, which was founded in 2010.
In February 2009, Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft cease to exist on its 25th anniversary in 2010.
On 1 September 2022 Fripp published The Guitar Circle, a book of writings concerning Guitar Craft.
=== Soundscapes ===
Fripp returned to recording solo in 1994, using an updated version of the Frippertronics technique that creates loops employing digital technology instead of analogue tapes. Fripp has released a number of records that he called "soundscapes", including 1999, Radiophonics, A Blessing of Tears, That Which Passes, November Suite, The Gates of Paradise, Love Cannot Bear and At the End of Time, as well as numerous download-only live recordings. (The sampler Pie Jesu consists of material compiled from A Blessing of Tears and The Gates of Paradise.)
=== 1990s collaborations with David Sylvian and others ===
Fripp's collaborations with David Sylvian feature some of his most exuberant guitar playing. Fripp contributed to Sylvian's twenty-minute track "Steel Cathedrals" from his Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities album of 1985. Then Fripp performed on several tracks from Sylvian's 1986 release, Gone to Earth.
In late 1991, Fripp had asked Sylvian to join a re-forming King Crimson as a vocalist. Sylvian declined the invitation, but proposed a possible collaboration between the two that would eventually become a tour of Japan and Italy in the spring of 1992.
Also in 1991, Fripp released an album with the project Sunday All Over The World, also featuring his wife Toyah Willcox, former League of Crafty Guitarists member Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick, and drummer Paul Beavis. The prior name of this band was Fripp Fripp, and they toured as such in 1988. They renamed to SAOTW, and toured again as SAOTW, in 1989.
In July 1993, Sylvian and Fripp released the collaborative effort The First Day. Other contributors were soon-to-be King Crimson member Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick and Jerry Marotta (who, like Sylvian, almost became a member of King Crimson) on drums. When the group toured to promote the CD, future King Crimson member Pat Mastelotto took over the drumming spot. The live document Damage was released in 1994, as was the joint venture, Redemption – Approaching Silence, which featured Sylvian's ambient sound sculptures (Approaching Silence) accompanying Fripp reading his own text (Redemption).
During the early and mid-1990s Fripp contributed guitar/soundscapes to Lifeforms (1994) by the Future Sound of London and Cydonia (released 2001) by the Orb, as well as FFWD, a collaborative effort with the latter's members. In addition, Fripp worked with Brian Eno co-writing and supplying guitar to two tracks for a CD-ROM project released in 1994 entitled Headcandy created by Chris Juul and Doug Jipson. Eno thought the visual aspects of the disc (video feedback effects) were very disappointing upon completion, and regretted participation. During this period, Fripp also contributed to albums by No-Man and the Beloved (1994's Flowermouth and 1996's X, respectively). He also contributed soundscapes and guitar to two albums by the UK band Iona: 1993's Beyond These Shores and 1996's Journey into the Morn.
=== 1994–2010: King Crimson redux ===
In late 1994, Fripp re-formed King Crimson for its fifth incarnation, adding Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto to the 1980s quartet in a configuration known as a "double trio". This line-up released the VROOOM EP in 1994 and the THRAK album the following year.
Though musically and relatively commercially successful, the double-trio King Crimson proved difficult to sustain in the long-term. From 1997 to 1999, the band "fraKctalised" into five experimental instrumental sub-groups known as ProjeKcts. By 1998 Bruford had quit the band altogether: in 2000, Fripp, Belew, Gunn and Mastelotto reunited as a four-piece King Crimson. This lineup produced two industrial metal-influenced studio albums, the construKction of light in 2000 and The Power to Believe in 2003.
Gunn departed at the end of 2003. Although Levin immediately returned to replace him, another hiatus followed until King Crimson reappeared in 2007 with the addition of Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison. This version of the band toured the eastern United States in 2008, reassessing the 1981-2003 back catalogue and introducing lengthy duets between the two drummers. No new original material was recorded by this line-up, and in 2010, Fripp announced that King Crimson were on another indefinite hiatus.
=== Work with G3, Porcupine Tree, Slow Music, Theo Travis, the Humans and others ===
In 2004, Fripp toured with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of their G3 series. He also worked at Microsoft's studios to record the startup sound for Windows Vista. Fripp designed the soundscape and composed the melody, while Tucker Martine created the rhythm and Microsoft's Steve Ball added the harmonies and created the final arrangement.
In late 2005 and early 2006, Fripp joined R.E.M./Nine Inch Nails drummer Bill Rieflin's improvisational Slow Music project, along with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Fred Chalenor, session drummer Matt Chamberlain and Hector Zazou on electronics. This collective of musicians toured the west coast of America in May 2006.
In 2006 Fripp contributed his composition "At The End Of Time" to the Artists for Charity album Guitarists 4 the Kids, produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged children. Throughout 2006, Fripp performed many solo concerts of soundscapes in intimate settings in churches around England and Estonia. In October 2006, ProjeKct Six (Fripp and Adrian Belew) played at select venues on the east coast of the U.S., opening for Porcupine Tree. In the same year, Fripp contributed to two songs from Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet ("Way Out of Here" and "Nil Recurring"). Fripp also sporadically performed as an opening act for Porcupine Tree on various tours from 2006 through 2009.
In 2008, Fripp collaborated with Theo Travis on an album of guitar and flute-or-saxophone duets called 'Thread', and the duo played a brief English tour in 2009 (repeating the collaboration with the Follow album in 2012). Also in 2009, Fripp played a concert with the band the Humans (which consists of his wife Toyah Willcox, Bill Rieflin and Chris Wong), appeared on Judy Dyble's Talking With Strangers (along with Pat Mastelotto and others) and played on two tracks on Jakko Jakszyk's album The Bruised Romantic Glee Club. In 2010, Fripp contributed a guitar solo to an extended version of the song 'Heathen Child' by Grinderman, released as a B-side on the 'Super Heathen Child' single.
In 2021, the ambient/electronica album Leviathan was released. Fripp produced it and played guitar, in collaboration with British EDM Duo The Grid.
=== A Scarcity of Miracles, musical 'retirement' and new lineup of King Crimson ===
In May 2011, Jakko Jakszyk, Robert Fripp and Mel Collins released A Scarcity of Miracles: A King Crimson ProjeKct on the Panegyric label. The album also featured contributions by Tony Levin and Gavin Harrison, leading to speculation that the project was a dry run for a new King Crimson lineup.
In an interview published 3 August 2012, Fripp stated that he had retired from working as a professional musician, citing long-standing differences with Universal Music Group and stating that working within the music industry had become "a joyless exercise in futility". This retirement proved to be short-lived, only lasting as long as it took to come to a settlement with UMG.
In his online diary entry for 6 September 2013, Fripp announced the return of King Crimson as a seven-piece unit with "four Englishmen and three Americans". The new lineup was Fripp, Levin, both Mastelotto and Harrison on drums, returning 1970s band member Mel Collins and two new members: Jakko Jakszyk as singer and second guitarist, and Bill Rieflin as a third drummer. This version of the band went on tour in 2014 and 2015 with a setlist reworking and reconfiguring the band's 1960s and 1970s material (plus songs from A Scarcity of Miracles and new compositions). In early 2016, it was announced that former Lemon Trees/Noel Gallagher drummer Jeremy Stacey would substitute for Rieflin on that year's tour while the latter was on sabbatical. King Crimson continued touring as a seven- or eight-piece unit with Stacey as a permanent member on drums and keyboards, plus Rieflin (when available) on keyboards and "fairy dusting" until 2021. Rieflin last played with Crimson in 2018; he died 24 March 2020.
== Equipment ==
During the early years of King Crimson (1968–74), Fripp used two Gibson Les Paul guitars from 1957 and 1959. The '57 guitar featured three humbucker pick-ups (with one volume control on the pickguard controlling the middle pick-up). In the band's 1980s era, he favoured Roland GR-303 & GR-808 guitars for both straight guitar and synth control. In subsequent years, Fripp has used customized Les Paul-style guitars by Tokai, 48th St Custom, and Fernandes.
A signature model named for the guitarist (Crimson Guitars Robert Fripp Signature) features Fernandes Sustainer and MIDI pickups with a Les Paul-style body. A significant difference from the Gibson Les Paul is that the signature model is built using a deep set neck tenon rather than a traditional set neck.
Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft students adopt the Ovation 1867 Legend steel-string acoustic guitar. "Fripp liked the way the Ovation 1867 fitted against his body, which made it possible for him to assume the right-arm picking position he had developed using electric guitars over the years; on deeper-bodied guitars, the Frippian arm position is impossible without uncomfortable contortions", according to Tamm. While the 1867 Legend is no longer manufactured, it influenced the design of the Guitar Craft Pro Model of Guitar Craft Guitars, which has been endorsed by Fripp.
== Guitar technique ==
Fripp began playing guitar at the age of eleven. When he started, he was tone deaf and had no rhythmic sense, weaknesses which led him later to comment that "Music so wishes to be heard that it sometimes calls on unlikely characters to give it voice." He was also naturally left-handed but opted to play the guitar right-handed.
While being taught guitar basics by his teacher Don Strike, Fripp began to develop the technique of crosspicking, which became one of his specialities. Fripp teaches crosspicking to his students in Guitar Craft.
In 1985, Fripp began using a tuning he called "New Standard Tuning" (C2-G2-D3-A3-E4-G4), which would also become popularised in Guitar Craft.
Fripp's guitar technique, unlike most rock guitarists of his era, is not blues-based but rather influenced by avant-garde jazz and European classical music. He combines rapid alternate picking and crosspicking with motifs employing whole-tone or diminished pitch structures and extended sixteenth-note patterns in moto perpetuo.
Rather than stand when performing, he seats himself on a stool (unusual for a performer in rock music), and by doing so was called in a May 1974 issue of Guitar Player "the guitarist who sits on stage".
== Personal life ==
Fripp married singer and actress Toyah Willcox on 16 May 1986 in Poole. From December 1987 until July 1999 they lived at and renovated Reddish House, the former home of Cecil Beaton, in the village of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire.
Fripp previously lived at Thornhill Cottage, Holt, Dorset (1971–1980) and Fernhill House, Witchampton (1980–1987). After Reddish House, the couple lived at Evershot Old Mansion (1999–2001). They then moved to their present home in Pershore, Worcestershire. The couple have no children and have arranged their will so as to leave their assets to the establishment of a musical educational trust for children.
Fripp is the patron of the Seattle Circle Guitar School in the United States and the Shallal Dance Theatre in Penzance. He also has had engagements as a motivational speaker, often at events with his sister Patricia, who is a keynote speaker and speech coach.
Fripp is a pescetarian. Nevill Drury details in Music for Inner Space: Techniques for Meditation & Visualisation that Fripp was interested in the Hermetic Qabalah, Wicca, German Renaissance philosopher Paracelsus, and George Gurdjieff via J. G. Bennett.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fripp and Willcox uploaded many short, humorous videos to YouTube, usually covers of well-known songs, and mostly titled Toyah and Robert's Sunday Lunch. According to rock and metal news website MetalSucks, their stories about these covers were extremely popular; their cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" was the site's sixth-most popular story that year. The duo toured the UK in 2023, performing the Sunday Lunch songs in concert.
Alfie Fripp, the last of the "39ers", shot down by the Luftwaffe and then held in 12 different POW camps during World War II, was his uncle.
== Awards and honours ==
Asteroid 81947 Fripp, discovered by Marc Buie at Cerro Tololo in 2000, was named in his honour. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 May 2019 (M.P.C. 114955).
Fripp is ranked 62nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2011 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, having been ranked 42nd by David Fricke on its 2003 list. Tied with Andrés Segovia, he is ranked 47th on Gibson's Top 50 guitarists of all time.
== Discipline Global Mobile ==
In 1992, Fripp and producer/online content developer David Singleton co-founded Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) as an independent music label. DGM releases music by Fripp, KC, related acts, and other artists in CDs and in downloadable files. A 1998 Billboard profile stated that DGM had ten staff-members in Salisbury (England) and Los Angeles (USA). DGM has an aim "to be a model of ethical business in an industry founded on exploitation, oiled by deceit, riven with theft and fueled by greed." DGM insists that its artists retain all copyrights; consequently, even DGM's "knotwork" corporate-logo (pictured above) is owned by its designer, Steve Ball; the "knotwork" logo appeared earlier on the cover of later versions of the Discipline album. DGM's aims were called "exemplary" by Bill Martin (1997), who wrote that "Fripp has done something very important for the possibilities of experimental music" in creating DGM, which "has played a major role in creating favorable conditions for" King Crimson.
DGM publishes an on-line diary by Fripp, who often comments on performances and on relations with fans. A moderated forum allows fans to ask questions or to leave comments. Together, Fripp's diary and the fan forum display delayed dialogs in which Fripp and fans discuss diary-entries and forum-postings.
=== Copyright infringement complaints ===
In 2009, Fripp released a statement claiming that EMI and Sanctuary Universal had uploaded music to various music stores without his consent, stating "NONE of these downloads were licensed, authorised or legitimised. that is, every single download of any KC track represents copyright violation. or, to use one syllable instead of seven, theft."
In 2011, Fripp complained that the streaming service Grooveshark continued to stream his music despite his having delivered repeated takedown notices. Fripp and Grooveshark's correspondence was published by Digital Music News and in his diaries, which appear on the website of Discipline Global Mobile.
Fripp's published exchange was included in a suit against Grooveshark by Universal Music Group, which was filed in November 2011. UMG cited internal documents revealing that Grooveshark employees uploaded thousands of illegal copies of UMG-owned recordings. Fripp had previous experience protecting his music in litigation with music companies.
Fripp has stated that he believes "Unauthorised streaming or MP3 giveaways – it amounts to the same thing – copyright theft."
== Discography ==
Fripp has been extremely active as a recording musician and a producer. He has contributed to more than 700 official releases. The Robert Fripp Discography Summary, compiled by John Relph, also lists 120 compilations and 315 unauthorised releases (such as bootlegs). This means that more than 1100 releases (including both official and unofficial ones, as well as both studio and live recordings) can be found with Fripp participating. Studio releases are listed here.
=== Giles, Giles & Fripp ===
1968 : The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp
2001 : The Brondesbury Tapes
2001 : Metaphormosis
=== Solo ===
==== Studio albums ====
1979 : Exposure
1980 : God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners
1981 : Let the Power Fall: An Album of Frippertronics
1998 : The Gates of Paradise
==== Live albums ====
1994 : 1999: Soundscapes Live in Argentina
1995 : Radiophonics: 1995 Soundscapes volume 1
1995 : A Blessing of Tears: 1995 Soundscapes volume 2
1996 : That Which Passes: 1995 Soundscapes volume 3
1998 : November Suite: Soundscapes - Live at Green Park Station 1996
2005 : Love Cannot Bear
2007 : At the End of Time: Churchscapes Live in England & Estonia
2021 : Music for Quiet Moments
=== Brian Eno ===
1973 : (No Pussyfooting)
1975 : Evening Star
1994 : The Essential Fripp And Eno
2004 : The Equatorial Stars
2006 : The Cotswold Gnomes aka Beyond Even (1992–2006)
2021 : Live in Paris 28.05.1975
=== David Sylvian ===
1993 : The First Day
1993 : Darshan (The Road To Graceland)
1994 : Damage: Live
=== Andy Summers ===
1982 : I Advance Masked
1984 : Bewitched
1984 : Andy Summers & Robert Fripp Speak Out - Promo album
=== The League of Gentlemen ===
1981 : The League of Gentlemen
1996 : Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx
=== The League of Crafty Guitarists ===
1986 : Live !
1991 : Live II
1991 : Show Of Hands
1995 : Intergalactic Boogie Express - Live In Europe 1991
=== Theo Travis ===
2008 : Thread
2012 : Follow
2012 : Discretion
=== Other recordings ===
1981 : The Warner Brothers Music Show - The Return Of King Crimson (interviews with music inserts)
1985 : Network (EP, compilation)
1986 : The Lady or the Tiger (With Toyah Willcox)
1991 : Kneeling at the Shrine (With Sunday All Over the World)
1993 : The Bridge Between (With The Robert Fripp String Quintet)
1994 : FFWD (With The Orb)
1999 : The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior (With Bill Rieflin & Trey Gunn)
2000 : A Temple in the Clouds (With Jeffrey Fayman)
2007 : Robert Fripp : Unplugged - 3 CD Box-set
2011 : A Scarcity of Miracles (With Mel Collins & Jakko Jakszyk)
2012 : The Wine of Silence (With Andrew Keeling, David Singleton & Metropole Orkest)
2015 : Starless Starlight : David Cross & Robert Fripp
=== Collaborations ===
1970 : H to He, Who Am the Only One : Van der Graaf Generator
1971 : Pawn Hearts : Van der Graaf Generator
1971 : Fools Mate : Peter Hammill
1971 : Septober Energy : Centipede
1972 : Blueprint : Keith Tippett
1972 : Matching Mole's Little Red Record : Matching Mole
1973 : Ovary Lodge : Keith Tippett
1974 : Here Come the Warm Jets : Brian Eno
1975 : Another Green World : Brian Eno
1977 : "Heroes" : David Bowie
1977 : Before and After Science : Brian Eno
1977 : Peter Gabriel I : Peter Gabriel
1977 : Magic is a Child : Nektar
1978 : Parallel Lines : Blondie
1978 : Music for Films : Brian Eno
1978 : Peter Gabriel II : Peter Gabriel
1979 : Fear of Music : Talking Heads
1979 : The Roches : The Roches
1980 : Sacred Songs : Daryl Hall
1980 : Peter Gabriel III : Peter Gabriel
1980 : Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps): David Bowie
1982 : Keep On Doing : The Roches
1985 : Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities : David Sylvian
1986 : Gone to Earth : David Sylvian
1987 : Couple in Spirit : Keith Tippett and Julie Tippetts
1992 : 456 : The Grid
1992 : Nerve Net : Brian Eno
1993 : Beyond These Shores : Iona
1994 : Sidi Mansour : Cheikha Rimitti
1994 : Flowermouth : No Man
1994 : Battle Lines : John Wetton
1995 : Cheikha Rimitti Featuring Robert Fripp and Flea : Cheikha [Unreleased Tracks From The Sidi Mansour Album]
1996 : The Woman's Boat : Toni Childs
1998 : Lightness: For The Marble Palace
1998 : Arkangel : John Wetton
1999 : Birth of a Giant : Bill Rieflin
1999 : Approaching Silence : David Sylvian
2000 : Everything and Nothing : David Sylvian
2001 : Sinister : John Wetton
2001 : The Thunderthief : John Paul Jones
2002 : Trance Spirits : Steve Roach & Jeffrey Fayman With Robert Fripp & Momodou Kah
2002 : Camphor : David Sylvian
2006 : Side Three : Adrian Belew
2011 : Raised in Captivity : John Wetton
=== Production ===
1971 : Septober Energy : Centipede
1972 : Matching Mole's Little Red Record : Matching Mole
1972 : Blueprint : Keith Tippett
1973 : Ovary Lodge : Ovary Lodge - With Keith Tippett, Roy Babbington, etc.
1978 : Peter Gabriel : Peter Gabriel
1979 : The Roches : The Roches
1980 : Sacred Songs : Daryl Hall
1991 : The California Guitar Trio : The California Guitar Trio - Executive producer
1995 : Intergalactic Boogie Express : Coproducer.
1998 : Pathways : California Guitar Trio - Executive producer |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Society_of_Women_Painters_and_Sculptors | Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors | The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, established in Melbourne, Victoria in 1902, is the oldest surviving women's art group in Australia.
== History ==
The Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors (MSWPS) began in 1902 as a monthly gathering of eight former students of Frederick McCubbin from the National Gallery School which members called the Students' Art Club. It is known that among these founders were Daisy Stone, Tina Gowdie, Annie Gates, Kate Allan, Ella Thorn, Henrietta Maria Gulliver and a Miss Stock (otherwise unidentified, who died in 1906). In 1905 they added the indigenous word "Woomballano" (meaning either 'everlasting beauty' or 'search for beauty') to identify their Art Club, changing its title to The Women's Art Club in 1913 then to the Melbourne Society of Women Painters in 1930. The present designation was adopted in 1954.
Many of its early members were plein air painters and identified with the Heidelberg School, which was regarded widely as a male group but which involved many women. The interest in the decorative arts at the opening of the twentieth century attracted other members who were significant craftspeople. By the 1920s, the Society was assimilating the generation of professional women artists emerging from the Melbourne National Gallery School, with significant women artists, representatives of both the Meldrum tonal school and modernism, being invited to join. The Society was less overtly feminist than its Sydney counterpart The Society of Women Painters (later named Women’s Industrial Arts Society) which was founded in 1910 in reaction to the discrimination of male-dominated juries of art institutions and societies. During the Second World War the MSWPS opened volunteer headquarters at Grosvenor Chambers (9 Collins Street, Melbourne) where they made and sold handcrafts and art to raise money for the war effort.
MSWPS has met at heritage-listed Ola Cohn House 41-43 Gipps Street, East Melbourne since the sculptor's death in 1964. She was President of the Society from 1948 to 1964.
== Notable members ==
Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors members included:
Cristina Asquith Baker, painter, print-maker (1868–1960)
Alice Marian Ellen Bale (1875–1955), Studied at National Gallery School 1895–1904, from 1917 to 1955 a consistent exhibitor with the Women’s Art Club
Margaret Francis Ellen Baskerville sculptor (1861–1930)
Clarice Beckett (1887–1935) participated in Women’s Art Club shows until the early 1930s.
Lina Bryans (1909–2000), exhibited 1940–1965 and prominent in the 1960s, resigned 1966, rejoined 1991—. A Modernist associated with William Frater
Ethel Carrick (1872–1952), exhibited with the society in the 1940s and 1950s
Ola Cohn (President of the Society from 1948 to her death in 1964)
Amalie Sara Colquhoun painter (1894–1974)
Valeria Helen Correll, sculptor, ceramicist (1886–1973)
Sybil Craig (a foundation member)
Peggie Crombie
Janet Cumbrae Stewart
Maude Edith Victoria Fleay (1869–1965), Women’s Art Club member from 1929, exhibited with it regularly and was elected a life member in 1964.
Frances Margot Freeman (1895–1977) exhibited with the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1923–26, then again in 1938, and regularly showed work in their annual exhibitions until 1971
May Butler George (1881–1973), painter and sculptor, joined the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors 1913 and exhibited with it in 1923
Gwendolyn Muriel Grant (1877–1968)
Henrietta Maria Gulliver (1866 – 1945)
Norah Gurdon (1882 - 1974)
Margaret Gurney
Pat Hillcoat (1935 – 2022)
Polly Hurry
Marguerite Henriette Mahood, ceramicist (1901–1989)
Maidie McGowan (1906–1998)
Leopoldine Mimovich OAM (1920–2019)
Anne Montgomery
Hilda Rix Nicholas
Helen Elizabeth Ogilvie (1902–1992)
Esther Paterson (1892–1971) President 1966
Margaret Pestell (1894–1984)
Ada May Plante (1875–1950)
Jane Rebecca Price (1860– 1948)
Elma Roach (1897-1942)
Florence Aline Rodway (1881–1971), showed occasionally with the MSWPS, but was more closely associated with the Society of Women Painters in Sydney, before she moved to Hobart, she was a foundation member of the SWP in 1910 and a member of the exhibition committee in 1910–12 [1]
Dora Serle (1875–1968) president of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters in 1933–34 and represented them on the National Council of Women [2].
Clara Southern (1860–1940)
Isabel May Tweddle (1875–1945)
Dora Wilson (1883 – 1946)
Eveline Winifred Syme (1888–1961)
Stephanie Taylor (1899–1974)
Violet Teague (1872–1951)
Jessie Constance Alicia Traill (1881–1967)
Isabel May Tweddle (1875–1945) joined the Women's Art Club in 1926, president 1930–31 and 1941–45.
Janie Wilkinson Whyte (1869–1953)
Dora Wilson (1883–1946)
Marjorie Woolcock (1898–1965)
== Selected artworks == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics | 2012 Summer Olympics | The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England. Some events were held at venues elsewhere in the United Kingdom. There were 10,518 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) who participated in the 2012 Olympics.
Following a bid headed by the former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore on 6 July 2005, defeating bids from Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris. London became the first city to host the modern Olympics three times, having previously hosted the Summer Games in 1908 and 1948. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability. The main focus was a new 200-hectare (490-acre) Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site in Stratford, East London. The Games also used venues that already existed before the bid.
The United States topped the medal table, winning the most gold medals (48) and the highest number of medals overall (105). China finished second with a total of 91 medals (38 gold) and Great Britain came third with 65 medals overall (29 gold). Michael Phelps of the United States became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, winning his 22nd medal. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, meaning that every currently eligible country has now sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Women's boxing was included for the first time, and the 2012 Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors.
The Games received considerable praise for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm commended particularly highly. The Games were described as happy and glorious. The opening ceremony, directed by the Academy Award winner Danny Boyle, received widespread acclaim. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Belgian Jacques Rogge, who was succeeded by German Thomas Bach the next year.
== Bidding process ==
London was chosen over Birmingham to represent Great Britain's bid by the British Olympic Association.
By 15 July 2003—the deadline for interested cities to submit bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)—nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2012 Summer Olympics: Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. On 18 May 2004, as a result of a scored technical evaluation, the IOC reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February and March 2005. The Paris bid suffered two setbacks during the IOC inspection visit: a number of strikes and demonstrations coinciding with the visits, and a report that a key member of the bid team, Guy Drut, would face charges over alleged corrupt party political finances.
Throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin. Its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris.
On 6 June 2005 the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive. London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received very positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, "I cannot predict it since I don't know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less."
On 6 July 2005 the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York and Madrid. The final two contenders were London and Paris. At the end of the fourth round of voting, London won the right to host the 2012 Games with 54 votes to 50.
The celebrations in London were short-lived, being overshadowed by bombings on London's transport system less than 24 hours after the announcement.
== Development and preparations ==
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) was created to oversee the staging of the Games, and held its first board meeting on 3 October 2005. The committee, chaired by Lord Coe, was in charge of implementing and staging the Games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), established in April 2006, was in charge of construction of the venues and infrastructure.
The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was the lead government body for coordinating the London 2012 Olympics. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross-programme management, and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy before and after the Games that would benefit London and the wider United Kingdom. The organisation was also responsible for the supervision of the £9.3 billion of public sector funding.
In August 2011 security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London, following the 2011 England riots. Some countries expressed safety concerns, despite the IOC's assurance that the riots would not affect the Games. The IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2012 Games completed its tenth and final visit to London in March 2012. Its members concluded that "London is ready to host the world this summer".
=== Venues ===
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games used a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. After the Games, some of the new facilities would be reused in their Olympic form, while others were resized or relocated.
The majority of venues were divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition there were a few venues that, by necessity, were outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy some 125 mi (201 km) southwest of London, which hosted the sailing events. The football tournament was staged at several grounds around the UK. Work began on the Park in December 2006, when a sports hall in Eton Manor was pulled down. The athletes' village in Portland was completed in September 2011.
In November 2004 the 200-hectare (500-acre) Olympic Park plans were revealed. The plans for the site were approved in September 2004 by Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest. The redevelopment of the area to build the Olympic Park required compulsory purchase orders of property. The London Development Agency was in dispute with London and Continental Railways about the orders in November 2005. By May 2006, 86% of the land had been bought as businesses fought eviction. Residents who opposed the eviction tried to find ways to stop it by setting up campaigns, but they had to leave as 94% of land was bought and the other 6% bought as a £9 billion regeneration project started.
There were some issues with the original venues not being challenging enough or being financially unviable. Both the Olympic road races and the mountain bike event were initially considered to be too easy, so they were eventually scheduled on new locations. The Olympic marathon course, which was set to finish in the Olympic stadium, was moved to The Mall, since closing Tower Bridge was deemed to cause traffic problems in central London. North Greenwich Arena 2 was scrapped in a cost-cutting exercise, Wembley Arena being used for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events instead.
Test events were held throughout 2011 and 2012, either through an existing championship such as 2012 Wimbledon Championships or as a specially created event held under the banner of London Prepares. Team GB House was the British Olympic Association's operational HQ up to and during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Designed by architects Gebler Tooth on the top floor of an office building in Westfield Stratford City, it combined the team HQ, athletes' "Friends and Family" lounge, Press Centre, and VIP lounge.
=== Public transport ===
IOC's initial evaluation felt that, if transport improvements were delivered in time for the Games, London would cope. Transport for London (TfL) carried out numerous improvements in preparation for 2012, including the expansion of the London Overground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the introduction of a new "Javelin" high-speed rail service. According to Network Rail, an additional 4,000 train services operated during the Games, and train operators ran longer trains during the day. During the Games, Stratford International station was not served by any international services (just as it had not been before the Games), westbound trains did not stop at Hackney Wick railway station, and Pudding Mill Lane DLR station closed entirely during the Games.
TfL also built a £25 million cable car across the River Thames, called the Emirates Air Line, to link 2012 Olympics venues. It was inaugurated in June 2012 and crosses the Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers an hour, cutting journey times between The O2 and the ExCeL exhibition centre and providing a crossing every 30 seconds.
The plan was to have 80% of athletes travel less than 20 minutes to their event and 93% of them within 30 minutes of their event. The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour. In addition, LOCOG planned for 90% of the venues to be served by three or more types of public transport. Two park-and-ride sites off the M25 with a combined capacity of 12,000 cars were 25 minutes away from the Olympic Park. Another park-and-ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet with a capacity for 9,000 cars where spectators could board a 10-minute shuttle train service. To get spectators to Eton Dorney, four park-and-ride schemes were set up. These Park and Ride services were operated by First Games Transport.
TfL defined a network of roads leading between venues as the Olympic Route Network; roads connecting all of the Olympic venues located within London. Many of these roads also contained special "Olympic lanes" marked with the Olympic rings—reserved for the use of Olympic athletes, officials, and other VIPs during the Games. Members of the public driving in an Olympic lane were subject to a fine of £130. Additionally, London buses would not include roads with Olympic lanes on their routes. Concerns were expressed at the logistics of spectators travelling to the events outside London. In particular, the sailing events at Portland had no direct motorway connections, and local roads are heavily congested by tourist traffic in the summer. However, a £77 million relief road connecting Weymouth to Dorchester was built and opened in 2011. Some £16 million was put aside for the rest of the improvements.
TfL created a promotional campaign and website, Get Ahead of the Games, to help provide information related to transport during the Olympics and Paralympics. Through the campaign, TfL also encouraged the use of cycling as a mode of transport. A temporary terminal was created at Heathrow Airport to be used by 10,100 departing athletes after the Games. Up to 35% more bags than normal were expected on 13 August, which was predicted to be the busiest day in the airport's history, according to Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at Heathrow.
=== Cost and financing ===
A study from Oxford University found that the sports-related costs of London 2012 amounted to US$15 billion, compared with $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). London 2012 went over budget by 76% in real terms, measured from bid to completion. The cost per athlete was $1.4 million. This does not include wider costs for urban and transport infrastructure, which often equal or exceed the sports-related costs.
The costs of staging the Games were separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure and redeveloping the land for the Olympic Park. While the Games were privately funded, the venues and infrastructure were largely financed using public money.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the original budget for the Games was increased to about £9.3 billion (US$15.28 billion) in 2007. The revised figures were announced to the House of Commons on 15 March 2007 by Tessa Jowell. Along with East End regeneration costs, the breakdown was:
Building the venues and infrastructure – £5.3 billion
Elite sport and Paralympic funding – £400 million
Security and policing – £600 million
Regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley – £1.7 billion
Contingency fund – £2.7 billion
=== Volunteers ===
Unpaid volunteers known as Games Makers performed a variety of tasks before and during the Games. A target of 70,000 volunteers was set as early as 2004. When recruitment took place in 2010, more than 240,000 applications were received. Sebastian Coe said in February 2012, "Our Games Makers will contribute a total of around eight million volunteer hours during the Games and the Games simply wouldn't happen without them". The volunteers wore clothing that included purple and red polo shirts and jackets, beige trousers, grey socks and grey-and-white trainers, which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre. Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges that were also worn by officials, athletes, family members and media, which gained them access to specific venues and buildings around the site.
=== Ticketing ===
Organisers estimated that some 8 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. LOCOG aimed to raise £375–£400 million in ticket sales. There were also free events such as marathon, triathlon and road cycling, although, for the first time in Olympic history, the sailing events were ticketed. Eventually, more than 7,000,000 tickets were sold. Following IOC rules, people applied for tickets from the NOC of their country of residence. European Union residents were able to apply for tickets in any EU country.
In Great Britain, ticket prices ranged from £20 for many events to £2,012 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. Some free tickets were given to military personnel as part of the Tickets For Troops scheme, as well as to survivors and families of those who died during the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Initially, people were able to apply for tickets via a website from 15 March until 26 April 2011. There was a huge demand for tickets, with a demand of more than three times the number of tickets available. On 11 May 2012 a round of nearly one million "second chance" tickets went on sale over a 10-day period between 23 June and 3 July 2011. About 1.7 million tickets were available for football and 600,000 for other sports, including archery, field hockey, football, judo, boxing and volleyball. Ten sports had sold out by 8 am of the first day.
=== Countdown ===
During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, the Olympic Flag was formally handed over from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. This was followed by a section highlighting London, One month later, the Olympic and Paralympic flags were raised outside the London City Hall.
A countdown clock in Trafalgar Square was unveiled, 500 days before the Games. It was a two-sided clock with the Paralympic countdown on the other side. The countdown to the start of the Olympics began with a ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece.
=== Security ===
The police led the security operation (named Operation Olympics by the Ministry of Defence), with 10,000 officers available, supported by 13,500 members of the British Armed Forces. Naval and air assets were deployed as part of the security operation, including ships situated in the Thames, Typhoon fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles; it was the biggest security operation Britain had faced in decades. The cost of security increased from £282 million to £553 million, and the figure of 13,500 armed forces personnel was greater than the number deployed at the time in Afghanistan. The Metropolitan Police and the Royal Marines carried out security exercises in preparation for the Olympics on 19 January 2012, with 50 marine police officers in rigid inflatables and fast response boats, joined by up to 100 military personnel and a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter.
The Ministry of Defence distributed leaflets to residents of the Lexington building in Bow, announcing that a missile system was to be stationed on top of the water tower. This caused concern to some residents. The Ministry said it probably would use Starstreak missiles and that site evaluations had taken place, but that no final decision had taken place.
=== Medals ===
Approximately 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals were produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant. They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics). 99% of the gold, silver and copper was donated by Rio Tinto from a mine in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S. The remaining 1% came from a Mongolian mine. Each medal weighs 375–400 g (13.2–14.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.3 in) and is 7 mm (0.28 in) thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The obverse, as is traditional, features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stepping from the Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with Parthenon in the background; the reverse features the Games logo, the River Thames and a series of lines representing "the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together". The medals were transferred to the Tower of London vaults on 2 July 2012 for storage.
Each gold medal is 92.5 percent silver and 1.34 percent gold, with the remainder copper. The silver medal is 92.5 percent silver, with the remainder copper. The bronze medal is made up of 97 percent copper, 2.5 percent zinc, and 0.5 per cent tin. The value of the materials in the gold medal was about £410 (US$644), the silver about £210 (US$330), and the bronze about £3 (US$4.71) as of 30 July 2012.
=== Torch relay ===
The Olympics torch relay ran from 19 May to 27 July 2012, before the Games. Plans for the relay were developed in 2010–11, with the torch-bearer selection process announced on 18 May 2011. The torch was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.
On 18 May 2012 the Olympic flame arrived at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall from Greece on flight BA2012, operated by a British Airways Airbus A319 named "Firefly". The relay lasted 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations and six island visits, and involved some 8,000 people carrying the torch about 8,000 mi (12,875 km), starting from Land's End in Cornwall. The torch had three days outside the United Kingdom when it visited the Isle of Man on 2 June, Dublin in Ireland, on 6 June, and both Guernsey and Jersey on 15 July.
The relay focused on National Heritage Sites, locations with sporting significance, key sporting events, schools registered with the Get Set School Network, green spaces and biodiversity, Live Sites (city locations with large screens), and festivals and other events. Dumfries and Galloway was the only Region in the whole of the United Kingdom that had the Olympic Torch pass through it twice. A group of young athletes, nominated by retired Olympic athletes, ran the torch around the stadium. These torchbearers were Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey. Together the torchbearers each lit a petal that spread the fire to the 204 petals of the cauldron, representing the countries that participated in the Games. The cauldron was designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
=== Environmental policy ===
The Olympic Park was planned to incorporate 45 hectares of wildlife habitat, with a total of 525 bird boxes and 150 bat boxes. Local waterways and riverbanks were enhanced as part of the process. Renewable energy also featured at the Olympics. It was originally planned to provide 20% of the energy for the Olympic Park and Village from renewable technologies; however, only 9% of it was achieved. Proposals to meet the original target included large-scale on-site wind turbines and hydroelectric generators in the River Thames, but these plans were scrapped for safety reasons. The focus subsequently moved to installing solar panels on some buildings, and providing the opportunity to recover energy from waste. Where it could not be reused or recycled, food packaging for use at the Olympics—including fast-food wrappers, sandwich boxes and drink cartons—was made from compostable materials like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics. After use, many of these materials were suitable for anaerobic digestion (AD), allowing them to be made into renewable energy.
Post-Games, buildings like the Water Polo Arena were relocated elsewhere. Building parts like roofing covers and membranes of different temporary venues were recycled via VinyLoop. This allowed organisers to meet the standards of the Olympic Delivery Authority concerning environmental protection.
London 2012 inaugurated Olympic Games guidelines that included the recycling of PVC, which was used for temporary buildings such as the Basketball Arena and for the temporary parts of permanent venues such as the Olympic Stadium. In the Water Polo Arena, PVC roofing was made from recycled cushions to provide insulation. Through this recycling process, the Olympic Games PVC Policy was fulfilled; the policy states:
Where London 2012 procures PVC for temporary usage or where permanent usage is not assured, London 2012 is required to ensure that there is a take-back scheme that offers a closed-loop reuse system or mechanical recycling system for post-consumer waste.
According to Kirsten Henson, Materials Manager for the London 2012 Olympic Park: "The majority of temporary facilities created for the Olympic Games including the Aquatic centre temporary stands, basketball arena, Water Polo Arena, and the shooting facilities at the Royal Artillery Barracks, are essentially big tents. Basically, PVC stretched over lightweight steel frame. This design solution makes them efficient to install, reduces the need for any significant foundations and are, of course, reusable. We were challenged by the public around the use of PVC; but we considered it to be the right material for certain functions. We therefore challenged the PVC supply chain to have certain environmental performance criteria in place, including a take back and recycle scheme."
=== Cultural Olympiad ===
The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games and for governing the Olympic Movement, states that
LOCOG shall organise a programme of cultural events which must cover at least the entire period during which the Olympic Village is open.
The Cultural Olympiad comprised many programmes, with more than 500 events spread over four years across the whole of the United Kingdom, and culminating in the London 2012 Festival.
=== Opening ceremony ===
Titled "The Isles of Wonder", the opening ceremony began at 21:00 British Summer Time (UTC+1) on 27 July in the Olympic Stadium. The Academy Award–winning director Danny Boyle was artistic director and Rick Smith of Underworld was musical director. The opening ceremony was immediately seen as a tremendous success, widely praised as a "masterpiece" and "a love letter to Britain". The principal sections of the artistic display represented Britain's Industrial Revolution, National Health Service, literary heritage, popular music and culture, and were noted for their vibrant storytelling and use of music.
The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This was the second Olympic Games opened personally by the Queen, the first being in 1976 in Montreal, Canada. The ceremony featured a short comic film starring Daniel Craig as the secret agent James Bond and the Queen as herself. There was also a musical comedy item starring Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean playing along with the London Symphony Orchestra. These were widely ascribed to Britain's sense of humour.
Live musical performers included Frank Turner, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Mike Oldfield, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys and Sir Paul McCartney who performed "Hey Jude" as the closing act. Broadcast live on BBC One, the ceremony attracted a peak viewing audience of over 27 million in the UK.
=== Closing ceremony ===
The closing ceremony was held on 12 August. It featured a flashback fiesta to British music with the Who closing the performance. The ceremony also included a handover of the Olympic flag by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, to Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In his closing address, Jacques Rogge described the Games as "happy and glorious".
== The Games ==
=== Participating National Olympic Committees ===
Around 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) took part, (85 countries acquired at least one medal: gold, silver or bronze) surpassing the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester as the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the United Kingdom.
Three athletes from the Netherlands Antilles, which whose territory was dissolved in 2010 and lost its recognition during 123rd IOC session held during July 2011, and one athlete from South Sudan, which their NOC was recognised in 2015, participated as two independent athletes teams under the Olympic flag.
==== Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee ====
10,518 athletes from 204 NOCs
==== National houses ====
During the Games, some countries and continents had a "national house". These temporary meeting places for supporters, athletes and other followers were located throughout London.
=== Sports ===
The 2012 Summer Olympics featured 26 different sports encompassing 39 disciplines and 302 medal events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
Women's boxing was included in the programme for the first time, and 36 women competed in three weight classes. There was a special dispensation for the shooting events, which would otherwise have been illegal under UK gun law. In tennis, mixed doubles returned to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1924.
London's bid featured the same 28 sports that had been included in other recent Summer Olympics, but the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games just two days after London had been selected as the host city. There was an appeal, but the IOC voted to uphold the decision, and the two sports were scheduled to be discontinued after their last appearance at the 2008 Olympics. The IOC then voted on whether to replace them; karate, squash, golf, roller sports and rugby sevens were considered. Karate and squash were the two final nominees, but neither received enough votes to reach the required two-thirds majority.
Although formal demonstration sports were eliminated after the 1992 Summer Olympics, special tournaments for non-Olympic sports can be run during the Games, such as the Wushu tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were attempts to run Twenty20 cricket and netball tournaments alongside the 2012 Games, but neither campaign was successful.
=== Calendar ===
The final official schedule was released on 15 February 2011.
All times and dates use British Summer Time (UTC+1)
=== Records ===
These Olympic Games resulted in 32 world records in eight sports. The largest number of records were set in swimming, at eight. China, Great Britain and the United States set the most records, with five each.
== Medal table ==
A total of 85 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) won medals, 54 of those countries winning at least one gold medal. Seven NOCs won their first ever Olympic medal: Bahrain (gold), Botswana (silver), Cyprus (silver), Gabon (silver), Grenada (gold), Guatemala (silver), and Montenegro (silver). The United States finished at the top of the table, winning 48 gold medals and a total of 104 medals. China finished second with 38 gold medals and 91 medals overall, and hosts Great Britain came in third place, winning 29 gold medals and 65 medals overall in their best performance since London hosted its first Summer Olympics in 1908, pushing Russia—who won 18 gold medals and 64 medals in total, after doping redistributions (initially 24 gold and 82 total)—into fourth place.
Key
‡ Changes in medal standings (see subpage)
* Host nation (Great Britain)
=== Podium sweeps ===
== Broadcasting ==
The host broadcaster was Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), an agency of the IOC. The OBS used its own cameras and crews subcontracted from other Olympic broadcasters to cover the events. The base video and audio were sold to other broadcasters, who added their own commentary and presentation.
The official recording format of the 2012 Summer Olympics used Panasonic's digital technologies. The official video was produced and distributed from the International Broadcast Centre in 1080/50i High-Definition (HD) format. Panasonic announced that DVCPRO HD would be the official recording format. OBS London used P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorders.
The IOC wanted television coverage to reach as broad a worldwide audience as possible, and several national and regional broadcasters covered London 2012. In the UK, the BBC carried the Olympics and Channel 4 the Paralympics. The BBC aimed to broadcast all 5,000 hours of the Games. BBC Parliament's Freeview channel was suspended, BBC Three's on-air time was extended so that it could show Olympic events in the daytime, and 24 additional BBC Olympics channels were available via cable, satellite and the internet in the UK.
The US television rights, owned by NBC, accounted for more than half the rights revenue for the IOC. Despite high viewership, many viewers were disappointed with NBC's coverage. The operations of broadcasters granted rights to the Games were hosted in the dedicated International Broadcast Centre inside the security cordon of the Olympic Park. YouTube planned to stream the Games in 64 territories in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where there were no official broadcasters.
In Sri Lanka a dispute occurred between Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) and MBC Networks (MTV/MBC) as to who was the official broadcaster of the Games. This problem was caused as Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) had offered the official broadcasting rights to both networks, as both of the networks were ABU members. So SLRC filed a case against MBC Networks for broadcasting rights at the Colombo Magistrate's Court. Considering the case, the court issued a special court order preventing MBC Networks' Olympic broadcast and stated that SLRC should be the sole broadcaster. However, when the Games started, both networks broadcast most of the events simultaneously. Another dispute had previously occurred between Carlton Sports Network (CSN) and SLRC, but the Sports Minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, had stated that SLRC had the exclusive rights.
=== Olympic Golden Rings Awards ===
In November 2012 the IOC announced the winners of the Golden Ring Awards for the best broadcast coverage of the Games. Best Olympic Sports Production was awarded to the sailing, produced by Christopher Lincoln, Gary Milkis, and Ursula Romero. The production for the canoe/kayak slalom and the rowing/canoe sprint came second and third respectively. The award for Best On Air Promotion went to NBC with Foxtel and ZDF finishing second and third. NBC Olympics also won the Best Olympic Feature category, as Sky Italia came second and ZDF third. The Best Athlete Profile award went to TV Record's profile of Sarah Menezes, NBC came second with their profile of David Rudisha, and ESPN Latin America took third place with a profile of Miguel Correa and Ruben Rezola. The award for Best Olympic Programme went to NBC, host broadcasters the BBC took second place for Super Saturday (the middle Saturday of the Games), and third place was claimed by the Nine Network for their live coverage of Day 16 of the Games.
== Marketing ==
"Survival" by Muse was announced as the official song of the Olympics, to be played by international broadcasters reporting on the Games. The track was noted to express a sense of conviction and determination to win. In August 2009 Royal Mail commissioned artists and illustrators to design 30 stamps, which were released in batches of 10 between 2009 and 2011. The last ones were released on 22 July 2011. Two £5 coins designed by Saiman Miah were made to commemorate the Olympics. As with other Olympics since 1952, the Royal Mint struck a set of commemorative one-kilogram gold and silver coins.
=== Motto ===
The official motto for the 2012 Summer Olympics was "Inspire a generation". It was chosen to highlight the organisers' commitment to inspire the world, including younger generations, to get involved in sporting events through the Games' legacy. A secondary motto of "Be part of it" was also used throughout marketing.
=== Logo and graphics ===
There were two London 2012 logos: one used for the bidding process, and the other used in the branding for the Games themselves. The bid logo, created by Kino Design, was a ribbon with blue, yellow, black, green, and red stripes winding through the text "LONDON 2012", making the shape of the River Thames in East London. The main logo, designed by Wolff Olins and published on 4 June 2007, is a representation of the number 2012, with the Olympic Rings embedded within the zero.
Public reaction to the main logo in a June 2007 BBC poll was negative; more than 80% of votes gave it the lowest possible rating. Several newspapers ran their own logo competitions, displaying alternative submissions from their readers, and several writers from news agencies criticised the logo. It was suggested that the logo resembled the American cartoon characters Lisa Simpson and Bart Simpson performing fellatio. In February 2011 Iran threatened to boycott the Olympics, complaining that the logo appeared to spell out the word "Zion". However, this boycott did not occur.
=== Colours ===
The four main colours used in the branding of the Games were pink, blue, green and orange. These colours were chosen to showcase the spirit of the Games: energetic, spirited, youthful, and bright.
The auxiliary colours used in the branding were dark purple, grey, and gold. These were mostly used in symbols and graphics to offset the brightness of the main colours.
=== Mascots ===
The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named after Much Wenlock, a town in Shropshire that holds a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner of the Paralympic Games was first held. The writer Michael Morpurgo wrote the story concept for the mascots, and an animation was produced. Four stories have been created about the mascots: Out Of A Rainbow, Adventures On A Rainbow, Rainbow Rescue, and Rainbow to the Games.
Creative Review magazine praised the mascots, but elsewhere their design was greeted with some disdain. However, the mascots' creators claimed that young people found the duo appealing.
=== Chariots of Fire ===
The 1981 Academy Award for Best Picture–winning film Chariots of Fire, which tells the story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics, was a recurring theme in promotions for the 2012 Olympics. A digitally re-mastered version of Chariots of Fire was released on 13 July 2012 and screened in over 100 UK cinemas as part of the celebrations, and a stage adaptation ran in London theatres from 9 May 2012 to 5 January 2013. The film's theme tune was performed during the opening ceremony by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle. The performance was accompanied by a comedic skit by Rowan Atkinson, which included the opening beach-running footage from the film. A new orchestration of the film's theme tune was played during each medal presentation of the Games.
== Controversies ==
During the lead-up to the Games, there were controversies over sponsorship, the athletes' use of social media, and several political issues. After a complicated lottery process, thousands of people failed to secure seats for the events they wanted, but a large number of empty seats were observed early in the Games, even at some of the most popular events. There was speculation that this was due to a failure of corporate sponsors to make use of tickets they had received.
During the Games, eight competitors in the badminton women's doubles were disqualified for "not using best efforts", when they tried to lose matches in the group stage to obtain more favourable fixtures in the knockout rounds. A number of results in boxing, gymnastics and judo were overturned by officials after initial decisions were appealed against.
== Drug testing and doping violations ==
It was announced before the Summer Games that half of all the competitors would be tested for drugs, with 150 scientists set to take 6,000 samples between the start of the Games and the end of the Paralympic Games. Every competitor who won a medal was also tested. The Olympic laboratory tested up to 400 samples every day for more than 240 prohibited substances.
Although there were less than 10 doping violations detected during the games, in the years following many samples were retested with improved laboratory procedures. This resulted in a large number of disqualifications and rescinded medals. As of mid 2024, 44 medals have been stripped due to doping violations with around 130 total disqualifications. In particular, almost 50 were from Russian athletes. Testing for drugs was completed by GSK (GlaxoSmithKline).
== In popular culture ==
In the movie 2012, numerous earthquakes occur around the globe as a result of the 2012 apocalypse, while the games are put on hold amid protests marched down 10 Downing Street, as reported in a news broadcast on television.
The 2024 biographical film, The Fire Inside, depicts the games and narrates the life of gold medalist Claressa "T-Rex" Shields.
In the British tv show Doctor Who, Series 2: Episode 11, Fear Her, the Doctor and Rose visit London on the day of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_year-end_top_30_singles_of_1954 | Billboard year-end top 30 singles of 1954 | This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top 30 popular songs of 1954 according to retail sales. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDAK_Subotica | ŽAK Subotica | ŽAK Subotica (Serbian Cyrillic: ЖАК Суботица) was a football club based in Subotica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The club was formed in 1921 and the name comes from the initials of Železničarski atletski klub derived from the fact that the club was backed by the Yugoslav Railways company.
It played in the 1935–36 Yugoslav Football Championship where it was eliminated in the round of sixteen by Slavija Osijek. Afterwards, it played in the 1940–41 Serbian League where it finished 5th out of 10.
With the start of the Second World War and the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, the city came under Hungarian occupation and the club competed in the Hungarian Second League under its Hungarian translated name, Szabadkai Vasutas AC. During this period the coach was Geza Takács and among its best known players was István Nyers who begin his senior career at the club.
After the end of the Second World War, the club made a tour throughout Serbia in order to prepare for competition, however the new socialist authorities demanded that most of the pre-1945 clubs to be disbanded and new clubs to be formed. ŽAK was dissolved in 1945 and its players made a meeting where they decided to join the newly founded FK Spartak Subotica which beside the players, the stadium, the colors and the fans, it also inherited the tradition of being backed by the railways.
== Notable players ==
Players with national team appearances:
Yugoslavia
Jovan Beleslin
Miloš Beleslin
Mihalj Kečkeš
Tihomir Ognjanov
Hungary
István Nyers
For a list of former players with Wikipedia article, please see: Category:ŽAK Subotica players. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Goldhoff | George Goldhoff | George Goldhoff (born January 14, 1995) is an American tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 101 achieved on 4 August 2025.
He has won five ATP Challenger doubles titles in his career.
Goldhoff played college tennis at Texas.
== Career ==
He won his first two ATP Challenger titles at the 2024 Cleveland Open and at the 2024 Challenger La Manche in Cherbourg, France with James Trotter. Following a third Challenger title in Modena, Italy partnering Jonathan Eysseric he reached the top 150 in the rankings on 15 July 2024. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmunden_District | Gmunden District | Bezirk Gmunden is a district of the state of
Upper Austria in Austria.
== Municipalities ==
Towns (Städte) are indicated in boldface; market towns (Marktgemeinden) in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.
Altmünster
Bad Goisern
Bad Ischl
Ebensee
Gmunden
Gosau
Grünau im Almtal
Gschwandt
Hallstatt
Kirchham
Laakirchen
Obertraun
Ohlsdorf
Pinsdorf
Roitham
Sankt Konrad
Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut
Scharnstein
Traunkirchen
Vorchdorf |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Cliff,_New_York | Sea Cliff, New York | Sea Cliff is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the greater Glen Cove area, which is anchored by the City of Glen Cove. The population was 5,062 at the time of the 2020 census.
== History ==
Sea Cliff incorporated as a village in 1883, with the growing community seeking to gain home rule powers and better control local affairs.
The community's public library initially opened in 1894. It formally became a village-administered agency in 1927, through a transfer of charter.
In 1968, the village moved its government offices and administrative facilities to its current location in the former Sea Cliff Methodist Church building and parsonage, which had been donated to the village by the church. The library followed suit in 1970, when it, too, moved into the building. The Sea Cliff Museum opened within the building later in the decade, following the United States Bicentennial.
In March 2025, Robert Ehrlich, the founder of Pirate's Booty, falsely claimed to be the mayor of Sea Cliff during a "tense standoff at Village Hall", making reference to the Citizen Empowerment Act. Village officials refuted Ehrlich's claim. Ehrlich ran for mayor as a write-in candidate, but lost to incumbent Elena Villafane by a vote of 1,064-62.
== Geography ==
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2), of which 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2) is land and 0.9 square miles (2.3 km2), or 44.67%, is water.
== Demographics ==
=== 2010 census ===
As of the 2010 census the population was 92.8% White, 88% Non-Hispanic white, 2.4% African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.9% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.95% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.8% of the population.
=== 2000 census ===
At the 2000 census there were 5,066 people, 2,013 households, and 1,356 families in the village. The population density was 4,655.1 inhabitants per square mile (1,797.3/km2). There were 2,082 housing units at an average density of 1,913.1 per square mile (738.7/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 94.83% White, 1.68% African American, 0.10% Native American, 1.22% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.95% from other races, and 1.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.76%.
Of the 2,013 households 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.6% were non-families. 26.6% of households were one person and 9.4% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.06.
The age distribution was 24.1% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% 65 or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.
The median household income was $78,501 and the median family income was $100,576. Males had a median income of $65,469 versus $41,146 for females. The per capita income for the village was $41,707. About 2.1% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.
== Government ==
=== Village government ===
The Village of Sea Cliff is governed by the Village of Sea Cliff Board of Trustees. This governing body consists of an elected Mayor and four elected Village Trustees.
As of March 2026, the Mayor of Sea Cliff is Elena Villafane, and the Village Trustees are Nick Pinto, Mark Sobel, James Versocki, and George Williams.
=== Representation in higher government ===
==== County representation ====
Sea Cliff is located in Nassau County's 11th Legislative district, which as of March 2026 is represented in the Nassau County Legislature by Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D–Glen Cove).
==== New York State representation ====
===== New York State Assembly =====
Sea Cliff is located in the New York State Assembly's 13th State Assembly district, which as of March 2026 is represented by Charles D. Lavine (D–Glen Cove).
===== New York State Senate =====
Sea Cliff is located in the New York State Senate's 7th State Senate district, which as of March 2026 is represented by Jack M. Martins (R–Old Westbury).
==== Federal representation ====
===== United States Congress =====
Sea Cliff is located in New York's 3rd congressional district, which as of March 2026 is represented in the United States Congress by Thomas R. Suozzi (D–Glen Cove).
===== United States Senate =====
Like the rest of New York, Sea Cliff is represented in the United States Senate by Charles E. Schumer (D) and Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D).
=== Politics ===
In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the majority of Sea Cliff voters voted for Kamala D. Harris (D).
== Education ==
=== Schools ===
The village is part of the North Shore Central School District.
The North Shore CSD's Sea Cliff School, furthermore, is located within the village. It previously served as the community's sole school, prior to the Sea Cliff School District's merger into the North Shore Central School District in 1953; the school was then repurposed as one of the district's elementary schools.
=== Library ===
The Village of Sea Cliff operates its own municipal library. Known as the Sea Cliff Village Library, its service area boundaries are coterminous with those of the village. It is one of the 54 member libraries comprising the Nassau Library System.
== Landmarks ==
Several buildings in Sea Cliff, mostly Victorian houses, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of them were built as summer homes as part of Sea Cliff's late nineteenth century role as a resort town, and they have been collectively called "one of the best collections of late Victorian era architecture in Nassau County."
Properties in Sea Cliff listed on the National Register of Historic Places include:
Central Hall
Christ Building
Crowell House
House at 9 Locust Place
House at 18 Seventeenth Avenue
House at 19 Locust Place
House at 58 Eighteenth Avenue
House at 65 Twentieth Avenue
House at 103 Roslyn Avenue
House at 112 Sea Cliff Avenue
House at 115 Central Avenue
House at 137 Prospect Avenue
House at 173 Sixteenth Avenue
House at 176 Prospect Avenue
House at 195 Prospect Avenue
House at 199 Prospect Avenue
House at 207 Carpenter Avenue
House at 240 Sea Cliff Avenue
House at 285 Sea Cliff Avenue
House at 332 Franklin Avenue
House at 362 Sea Cliff Avenue
House at 378 Glen Avenue
Sea Cliff Firehouse
Sea Cliff Village Hall, Library, and Museum Complex
St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church
Stephen Harding House
== Notable people ==
Mac Ayres – Singer, songwriter
Rose Elizabeth Bird – First female Chief Justice of California
Robert Olen Butler – Writer
Nini Camps – Lead singer of rock band Antigone Rising
Robert Ehrlich – Businessman
Dan Fagin – Writer
Kristen Henderson – Drummer of rock band Antigone Rising
Alfred Lansing – Author of Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Arnold Levin – Cartoonist
Michael McKean – actor, comedian, screenwriter, and musician
Kate McKinnon – Actress and comedian
Natalie Portman – Actress
John Rzeznik – Frontman of the rock band Goo Goo Dolls
Amanda Sobhy – Professional squash player
LaMarcus Adna Thompson – Inventor and businessman
Linda Yaccarino - X Corp. and Twitter CEO |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bay | Michael Bay | Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions. The films he has directed include Bad Boys (1995) and its sequel Bad Boys II (2003), The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), the first five films in the Transformers film series, Pain & Gain (2013), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), and Ambulance (2022). His films have grossed over US$6.6 billion worldwide, making him the fifth-most commercially successful director in history.
He is co-founder of the production house the Institute. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, a production house which has remade horror films, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), The Amityville Horror (2005), The Hitcher (2007), Friday the 13th (2009) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).
== Early life and education ==
Bay was born in Los Angeles. He was raised by his adoptive parents Harriet, a bookstore owner and child psychiatrist, and Jim, a Certified Public Accountant. He was raised Jewish. His grandfather was from Russia. His cousin, Susan Bay, is the widow of Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy (whom he eventually cast as the voice actor for Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon). He attended the exclusive Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California.
Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's 8 millimeter camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.
Bay got his start in the film industry interning with George Lucas when he was 15, filing the storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which Bay believed was going to be terrible. His opinion changed after seeing it in the theater and he was so impressed by the experience that he decided to become a film director. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1986, majoring in both English and film. He was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and a favorite student of film historian Jeanine Basinger. For his graduate work, he attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he also studied film. His classmates included future Hollywood film directors Tarsem Singh and Zack Snyder. Singh also appeared in one of Bay's student films as a camel salesman.
== Career ==
=== 1992–2005: Breakthrough and stardom ===
Bay began working at Propaganda Films, directing commercials and music videos, two weeks after finishing his postgraduate degree. His 90-second World War II–inspired Coca-Cola advertisement was picked up by Capitol Records. His first national commercial was for the Red Cross, which won a Clio Award in 1992. He directed Goodby, Silverstein & Partners' "Aaron Burr" commercial as part of the "Got Milk?" ad campaign for the California Milk Processors Board in 1993, which also won a Grand Prix Clio Award for Commercial of the Year.
Bay's success in music videos gained the attention of producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who selected him to direct his first feature-length film, Bad Boys. It was shot in Miami in 1994 and starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The action film was a breakout role for Smith, who was making a transition from television at the time. Shooting in Miami was a good experience for Bay, who would later own a home in the city and spend a great deal of time there. The film was completed for $19 million and grossed a remarkable $141 million in the summer of 1995. Bay's success led to a strong partnership and friendship with Jerry Bruckheimer.
His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), an action movie set on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay area, starred Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson, who died five months before its release. The film is dedicated to him. Connery and Cage won "Best On-Screen Duo" at the MTV Movie Awards in 1997, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Achievement in Sound category for the work of Greg P. Russell, Kevin O'Connell and Keith A. Wester. After the success of The Rock, Bay established his production company Bay Films, with a two-picture deal with Disney.
In 1998, Bay again collaborated with Jerry Bruckheimer, this time as a co-producer, as well as directing the action-adventure film Armageddon. The film, about a group of tough oil drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid from a collision course with Earth, starred Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. It was nominated for four Oscars at the 71st Academy Awards, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Song. It earned $9.6 million on its opening day and $36.5 million through the first weekend. Its budget of $140 million was one of the highest of the summer of 1998. It went on to gross over $553 million worldwide, the highest-grossing film of that year.
In 2001, Bay directed Pearl Harbor, starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was released on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, again produced by Bay with Jerry Bruckheimer. It received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Song. Kevin O'Connell received another nomination for Best Sound, but did not win. Pearl Harbor won in the category for Sound Editing, making it Bay's first (and, to date, only) film to win an Oscar. Bay also directed the music video for the nominated track "There You'll Be" by vocal artist Faith Hill.
Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys II, a sequel that was Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. It grossed $138 million domestically, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the first movie. In 2005, Bay directed The Island, a science fiction film starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It was the first film Bay made without Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer. It cost $126 million to produce and earned $36 million domestically and $127 million overseas, for a total of $163 million. Bay said that he was not comfortable with the domestic marketing campaign, as it confused the audience about the film's true subject.
=== 2007–2016 ===
In 2007, he teamed up with executive producer Steven Spielberg to direct Transformers, a live action film based on the Transformers franchise. Released in July 2007, by November of that year it had made over $709 million worldwide.
Bay returned as director and executive producer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was released on June 24, 2009 and grossed over $832 million worldwide. Although it received mostly negative reviews by critics, including aggressively critical reviews by American film critics such as Roger Ebert, Michael Phillips and David Denby (who referred to Bay as "stunningly, almost viciously, untalented"), the film was well received by its intended audience and one of the highest-grossing of 2009. In 2010, it earned seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations, and won three: Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. It was also one of the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray Discs of 2009, second only to Twilight in DVD format, and the #1 of all time in Blu-ray format until it was surpassed by Blu-ray sales of James Cameron's Avatar in April 2010.
Bay directed Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released on June 29, 2011, which grossed $1.123 billion globally. His next film was a comparatively small one he had been developing for years, called Pain & Gain. The true crime story, based on events described in a Miami New Times article by Pete Collins, concerns a group of bumbling bodybuilders working together to commit a robbery. It starred Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub and Ed Harris.
Bay produced DreamWorks' I Am Number Four, based on a series of novels by Pittacus Lore published by HarperCollins Children's Books. D. J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) directed.
A fourth Bay-directed Transformers movie, Transformers: Age of Extinction, was released in June 2014. Starring Mark Wahlberg, it earned $1.1 billion at the global box office. On January 12, 2016, Paramount Pictures released 13 Hours, which Bay produced and directed, based on the 2012 Benghazi attack. While the lowest-grossing film of Bay's career at the box office, it went on to massive DVD sales on its digital release in May 2016, earning over $40 million in home video revenue.
=== 2017–present ===
On May 23, 2017, Bay was honored with his own hand-and-footprint ceremony at The TCL Chinese Theatre. His English mastiff, Rebel, put her paw in the cement with him.
Bay's fifth Transformers film as director, Transformers: The Last Knight, was released on June 21, 2017. It grossed $68.5 million in its five-day North American opening weekend, the franchise's lowest opening, and $605 million worldwide. In a 2016 Rolling Stone interview, Bay said it would be his final Transformers film as director.
In 2018, it was announced that Bay would direct the Netflix action thriller film 6 Underground, starring Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Ben Hardy and Dave Franco. It was released on December 13, 2019. Bay was set to begin production on the action film Black Five in 2020, but the project was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bay subsequently moved on to direct Ambulance.
Bay produced the pandemic-themed thriller Songbird starting Demi Moore, Craig Robinson, Paul Walter Hauser and Peter Stormare.
In 2021, it was reported that Bay requested financial compensation from film studio Paramount Pictures for indirectly limiting his income as a result of Paramount cutting the theatrical-only run of A Quiet Place Part II from 90 to 45 days due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bay, and other producers as well as actors for the film, as is typically the case, receive payment in part based on box-office performance, and a reduction in the theatrical run's exclusivity affected the pay they received.
Bay's next film was 2022's Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González. It follows two bank robbers who hijack an ambulance and take two hostages. Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles, it was released in the US on April 8, 2022, by Universal Pictures.
On September 2, 2024, Bay's first documentary series, Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior, premiered on Investigation Discovery. Bay directed and executive produced the five-episode series about serial killer Hadden Clark.
On July 24, 2024, it was reported that Bay was developing a franchise based on Alexey Gerasimov's Skibidi Toilet web series. Bay later denied any involvement in such a project.
On April 21, 2025, it was reported that Bay is working with Universal to develop a film based on the 1980s arcade game OutRun, with Sydney Sweeney onboard to produce.
On August 7, 2025, it was reported that Bay is working with Paramount to develop a new Transformers film.
=== Unrealized projects ===
== Production and effects companies ==
=== Platinum Dunes ===
Bay founded production house Platinum Dunes with fellow producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form in 2001.
=== Digital Domain ===
Bay and Wyndcrest Holdings, a Florida-based investment firm, acquired the digital effects company Digital Domain from James Cameron and Stan Winston in 2006, infusing the struggling business with a $50 million investment. Digital Domain considered an initial public offering in 2009 but withdrew the offer due to lack of interest. It was sold to the production group Beijing Galloping Horse in 2012.
=== The Institute ===
After leaving Propaganda Films, Bay and producer Scott Gardenhour, also formerly at Propaganda, formed the Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness (now known as the Institute), to produce commercials and other projects. Through the Institute, Bay has directed and produced spots for Victoria's Secret, Lexus, Budweiser, Reebok, Mercedes-Benz, and Nike. One of his Victoria's Secret ads was for the 2009 "A Thousand Fantasies" holiday campaign.
=== 451 Media Group ===
Bay co-founded 451 Media Group with Doug Nunes (who is CEO), and with John and Anthony Gentile, who previously marketed brands such as Micronauts, Visionaries, Sky Dancers and the Power Glove. In 2015, the company announced an interactive publishing division to offer "augmented reality" content from printed graphic novels with digital video. The graphic novels employ Touchcode technology from T+ink (previously used in the Power Glove), in which ink used in the printing process unlocks access to exclusive content that is housed on the Machinima Network, which is transferred to users' touch-screen-enabled mobile devices when the printed books are touched to those devices. The company's premiere slate of graphic novels was unveiled at the October 2015 New York Comic Con. The creators involved included Scott Rosenberg, Skip Woods, George Pelecanos, Mark Mallouk, Clay McLeod Chapman and Peter and Paul Williams.
=== Rogue Initiative ===
In June 2016, Bay joined the Rogue Initiative, a production studio and technology company, as a strategic advisor and stakeholder. The studio merges Hollywood production with interactive talent to generate story-driven content for games, mobile, virtual reality, mixed reality, television and feature film. As part of the partnership, Bay will develop and direct a multiplatform action-adventure game and cinematic VR experiences, based on an original IP conceived by him.
== Personal life ==
Bay lives in Miami with his three English mastiffs, named for characters in his films. As a boy, he donated his Bar Mitzvah money to an animal shelter and he now often includes his dogs in his films. Bonecrusher appeared as Mikaela's dog "Bones" in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Mason, his first English mastiff, was named for John Patrick Mason, played by Sean Connery in The Rock. Mason appeared as Marcus's dog in Bad Boys II and as Miles' dog in Transformers; he died during production of the latter film in March 2007.
Bay is not married and has no children. He previously dated sportscaster Lisa Dergan.
In a 2016 Rolling Stone interview, Bay said that his net worth was around $500 million. He owned a $50 million Gulfstream G550 jet, as well as a Bentley, a Range Rover, an Escalade, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and two Camaros from the Transformers franchise.
== Filmography ==
== Critical reception ==
Bay's work is divisive and has often been poorly received by film critics, and his name has been used pejoratively in art-house circles. Bay has responded to his critics, saying: "I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime." Besides accusing him of making films that pander to a young demographic, critics and audiences have been critical of elements of Bay's filmmaking style such as the overuse of Dutch angles, extreme patriotism, overly broad and sophomoric humor, excessive product placement, oversaturated orange and teal color grading, reusing footage from his previous films, and his preference of action and spectacle over story and characters, with his films' excessive use of explosions often being mentioned or parodied. Another point of contention with Bay's films is his portrayal and use of offensive racial stereotypes as comedic relief; one alleged example being the characters Skids and Mudflap in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Bay has also been accused of heavily objectifying women in his films, with critics describing Bay's manner of filming actresses as "lascivious" and "pornographic". He has faced criticism for routinely making sexist remarks and showing female characters in a stereotypical light. He came under scrutiny for firing Megan Fox in retaliation after she made comments about him mistreating her on the set of the Transformers films and compared him to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon. Bay published an open letter written by three anonymous members of the crew of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that referred to Fox as, among other things, "Ms. Sourpants", "porn star", "unfriendly bitch", and "dumb-as-a-rock".
In 2009, it was reported that Fox, at the age of 15, was made to wash Bay's car while auditioning for Transformers. In 2020, Fox revisited the incident and denied that she was underaged (for Transformers) or "made to 'wash' or work on someone's cars in a way that was extraneous from the materials in the actual script." Fox was 15 when she first appeared as a bikini-clad extra in the Bay film Bad Boys II.
Actress Kate Beckinsale also spoke out publicly by reporting that she was body-shamed and regularly criticized for her appearance by Bay during the making of Pearl Harbor.
Six of Bay's films have been nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight), with Revenge of the Fallen and Age of Extinction winning the award for "Worst Director". Revenge of the Fallen also became the first film by Bay and also the highest-grossing film to be awarded "Worst Picture".
Conversely, some critics and actors have praised Bay's films and style. Film historian Jeanine Basinger has described him as "the most cinematic and fluid and unafraid director", while Scott Foundas of Variety has lauded his "grand, epic vision" and positively compared him to William Wyler. Actress Scarlett Johansson wrote that Bay is "a truly ambitious storyteller who celebrates characters, actors, and leading men and women alike."
== Accolades == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Marden | River Marden | The River Marden is a small tributary of the River Avon in England. It flows from the hills surrounding Calne and meets the Avon about a mile upstream of Chippenham. The river has a mean flow of 43 cubic feet per second (1.2 m3/s).
== Course ==
The Marden rises just north of the valley of Ranscombe Bottom near Calstone Wellington in Wiltshire. It then flows in a north-west direction through the Blackland area, where it forms a small ornamental lake at Blackland House, and on to Quemerford, where it is joined on the right bank by the Rivers Brook. In Calne, the Abberd Brook joins on the right. The river turns in a westerly direction and is joined by the overspill from Bowood Lake, part of the Bowood House estate, on the left at Studleybrook Farm. The river is then joined by the combined Fisher's and Cowage brooks before turning to the north-west, past the village of Stanley. 1.5 miles (2.4 km) later it joins the Bristol Avon to the north-east of Chippenham.
== History ==
The Domesday survey of England in 1086 records four watermills on the Marden at Calne. In the 18th century four fulling mills are recorded and one of these, Upper Mill, became a paper mill in 1768 and continued in operation until 1860. Hassell's Mill at Studley remained in operation until 1960.
A branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal, opened in 1810, paralleled the course of the Marden west of Calne. The canal was closed in 1914 following the collapse into the river of the Stanley aqueduct in 1901. Traces of the canal and its towpath survive.
== Hydrology ==
The Environment Agency gauging station at Stanley has measured the mean flow of the river as 43 cubic feet per second (1.2 m3/s), with a maximum recorded flow of 1,529 cubic feet per second (43.3 m3/s) on 30 October 2000 and a minimum of 3.9 cubic feet per second (0.11 m3/s) on 21 August 1976. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_mountains_on_Earth | List of highest mountains on Earth | There are at least 108 mountains on Earth with elevations of 7,200 m (23,622 ft; 4 mi) or greater above sea level. Of these, 14 are more than 8,000 m (26,247 ft; 5 mi). The vast majority of these mountains are part of either the Himalayas or the Karakoram mountain ranges located on the edge of the Indian plate and Eurasian plate in China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
== Discussion ==
The dividing line between a mountain with multiple peaks and separate mountains is not always clear (see also Highest unclimbed mountain). A popular and intuitive way to distinguish mountains from subsidiary peaks is by their height above the highest saddle connecting it to a higher summit, a measure called topographic prominence or re-ascent (the higher summit is called the "parent peak"). A common definition of a mountain is a summit with 300 m (984 ft) prominence. Alternatively, a relative prominence (prominence/height) is used (usually 7–8%) to reflect that in higher mountain ranges everything is on a larger scale. The table below lists the highest 100 summits with at least 500 m (1,640 ft) prominence, approximating a 7% relative prominence. A drawback of a prominence-based list is that it may exclude well-known or spectacular mountains that are connected via a high ridge to a taller summit, such as Eiger, Nuptse or Annapurna IV. A few such peaks and mountains with nearly sufficient prominence are included in this list, and given a rank of "S".
It is very unlikely that all given heights are correct to the nearest metre; indeed, the sea level is often problematic to define when a mountain is remote from the sea. Different sources often differ by many metres, and the heights given below may well differ from those elsewhere in this encyclopedia. As an extreme example, Ulugh Muztagh on the north Tibetan Plateau is often listed as 7,723 m (25,338 ft) to 7,754 m (25,440 ft), but appears to be only 6,973 m (22,877 ft) to 6,987 m (22,923 ft). Some mountains differ by more than 100 m (330 ft) on different maps, while even very thorough current measurements of Mount Everest range from 8,840 m (29,003 ft) to 8,849 m (29,032 ft). These discrepancies serve to emphasize the uncertainties in the listed heights.
Though some parts of the world, especially the most mountainous parts, have never been thoroughly mapped, it is unlikely that any mountains this high have been overlooked, because synthetic aperture radar can and has been used to measure elevations of most otherwise inaccessible places. Still, heights or prominences may be revised, so that the order of the list may change and even new mountains could enter the list over time. To be safe, the list has been extended to include all 7,200 m (23,622 ft) peaks.
The highest mountains above sea level are generally not the highest mountains above the surrounding terrain, also called the highest free-standing mountains. There is no precise definition of surrounding base, but Denali, Mount Kilimanjaro and Nanga Parbat are possible candidates for the tallest mountain on land by this measure.
The bases of mountain islands are below sea level, and given this consideration. Mauna Kea (4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level) is the world's tallest mountain and volcano, rising about 10,203 m (33,474 ft) from the Pacific Ocean floor. Mount Lamlam on Guam is periodically claimed to be among the world's highest mountains because it is adjacent to the Mariana Trench; the most extreme claim is that, measured from Challenger Deep 313 kilometres (194 mi) away, Mount Lamlam is 11,530 metres (37,820 ft) tall. Ojos del Salado has the greatest rise on Earth: 13,420 m (44,029 ft) vertically to the summit from the bottom of the Atacama Trench, which is about 560 km (350 mi) away, although most of this rise is not part of the mountain.
The highest mountains are also not generally the most voluminous. Mauna Loa (4,169 m or 13,678 ft) is the largest mountain on Earth in terms of base area (about 5,200 km2 or 2,000 sq mi) and volume (about 42,000 km3 or 10,000 mi3), although, due to the intergrade of lava from Kilauea, Hualalai and Mauna Kea, the volume can only be estimated based on surface area and height of the edifice. Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest non-shield volcano in terms of both base area (635 km2 or 245 sq mi) and volume (4,793 km3 or 1,150 mi3). Mount Logan is the largest non-volcanic mountain in base area (311 km2 or 120 sq mi).
The highest mountains above sea level are also not those with peaks farthest from the centre of the Earth, because the shape of the Earth is not spherical. Sea level closer to the equator is several kilometres farther from the centre of the Earth. The summit of Chimborazo, Ecuador's tallest mountain, is usually considered to be the farthest point from the Earth's centre, although the southern summit of Peru's tallest mountain, Huascarán, is another contender. Both have elevations above sea level more than 2 km (1.2 mi) less than that of Everest.
== Geographical distribution ==
Almost all mountains in the list are located in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges to the south and west of the Tibetan Plateau. All peaks 7,000 m (22,966 ft) or higher are located in East, Central or South Asia in a rectangle edged by Noshaq (7,492 m or 24,580 ft) on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border in the west, Jengish Chokusu (Tuōmù'ěr Fēng, 7,439 m or 24,406 ft) on the Kyrgyzstan–Xinjiang border to the north, Gongga Shan (Minya Konka, 7,556 m or 24,790 ft) in Sichuan to the east, and Kabru (7,412 m or 24,318 ft) on the Sikkim–Nepal border to the south.
As of November 2025, the highest peaks on four of the mountains—Gangkhar Puensum, Labuche Kang III, Tongshanjiabu and Apsarasas Kangri, all located in India, Bhutan or China—have not been ascended. The most recent peak to have its first ever ascent is Karjiang, in China, on 13 August 2024.
The highest mountain outside of Asia is Aconcagua (6,962 m or 22,841 ft), the 188th highest in the world.
== List of highest peaks ==
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardano_(blockchain_platform) | Cardano (blockchain platform) | Cardano is a public decentralized blockchain platform which uses the cryptocurrency, ADA, to facilitate transactions.
Cardano's development began in 2015. When launched in 2017, it was the largest cryptocurrency to use a proof of stake blockchain. A number of independent entities collaborate on the project, including the Cardano Foundation based in Zug, Switzerland and led by its chief executive officer Frederik Gregaard.
== History ==
After leaving Ethereum in 2014, Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood set out their plans for establishing Cardano in 2015. Hoskinson had left Ethereum after a dispute with another co-founder, Vitalik Buterin; Hoskinson wanted to accept venture capital and create a company, while Buterin wanted to keep it as a nonprofit organization. Wood and Hoskinson co-founded the business IOHK to develop blockchains for use by corporations, governments, and education institutions.
Cardano was initially released to the public in 2017. That year, IOHK partnered with the University of Edinburgh to launch the Blockchain Technology Laboratory. The lab had six post-doctoral and professorial positions with up to 35 jobs created in total, and was led by Aggelos Kiayias, developer of the Ouroboros protocol.
Cardano reached a market cap of $77 billion in May 2021, which was the fourth highest for a cryptocurrency at that time.
Advertising agency MBLM ranked Cardano 26th for brand intimacy out of 600 brands in August 2022, in between Ford and Nestlé and the highest rank for a cryptocurrency. Citing an MBLM partner, advertising industry magazine Ad Age said Cardano's high ranking "can likely be chalked up to the gambling element of crypto".
The platform is named after Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano, while the cryptocurrency itself is named after the English mathematician Ada Lovelace. The Ada sub-unit is the Lovelace; one Ada = 1,000,000 Lovelaces.
== Design ==
=== Governance ===
Cardano was originally controlled by three entities:
Cardano Foundation aims to standardize and promote the ecosystem (based in Switzerland).
IOHK: an engineering company responsible for building the Cardano blockchain.
Emurgo: responsible for commercial applications.
=== Technical design ===
Atypically, Cardano does not have a white paper. Instead, it uses design principles intended to overcome issues—such as scalability, interoperability, and a lack of regulatory compliance—faced by earlier cryptocurrencies. Cardano claims that it overcomes problems found in other cryptocurrencies, mainly that Bitcoin is too slow and inflexible and that Ethereum is not safe or scalable. Like Bitcoin, Cardano uses a UTXO ledger model, though it is an extended version (EUTXO) to facilitate smart contracts and scripting languages.
Cardano uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol named Ouroboros; this was in contrast to Bitcoin and Ethereum, which used proof-of-work protocols (though the latter switched over in 2022). Proof-of-stake blockchains use far less energy than proof-of-work chains. This is achieved by eliminating the computing resources that a proof-of-work algorithm requires. In February 2021, Hoskinson estimated the Cardano network used 6 GWh annually, less than 0.01% of the 110.53 TWh used by the Bitcoin network as calculated by researchers at the University of Cambridge.
Within the Cardano platform, Ada exists on the settlement layer. This layer keeps track of transactions. The second layer is the computation layer and is designed to be similar to Ethereum, enabling smart contracts and applications to run on the platform. Like other cryptocurrencies, Ada (ADA) can be stored on a digital wallet. Cardano's native digital wallet is named "Daedalus". The Daedalus wallet downloads a full copy of the entire transaction history of the Cardano blockchain. Wallet users face the risk of losing access to funds if the wallet's seed phrase is lost or stolen.
Development phases of Cardano, or "eras", are named after notable figures in poetry and computer science: Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho, and Voltaire. The first three stages implemented a basic blockchain, and then implemented decentralisation and smart contracts. The Basho era focuses on scaling the blockchain. Voltaire, the final era, adds voting and treasury management functionality to the blockchain.
Once part of Cardano's Voltaire phase, CIP-1694 was implemented through the Chang upgrade and subsequent Plomin hard fork in 2024 establishing "on-chain" governance. This transition enabled ADA token holders to create, vote on and implement proposals through a decentralized decision-making process, marking IOHK's successful transfer of network development control to the community.
As with other proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies, Cardano offers "staking", which allows token holders to set-aside (delegate) tokens to potentially "validate" transactions on the same blockchain (Figure 1). The quantity of tokens staked corresponds with the likelihood of being chosen to validate a transaction, and thus be rewarded by the algorithm with more of the same token. Through various wallet implementations, users can participate in “staking pools” with other token holders. These staked tokens have a dual purpose, both securing the network through validation and enabling participation in the governance system.
== Cardano Foundation ==
Since 2021, Frederik Gregaard is known to be the CEO of the Cardano Foundation.
== Applications ==
Applications of the Cardano blockchain include:
In 2018, IOHK signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Ethiopia to consider the use of Cardano in its coffee supply chain. The partnership with the Ethiopian government also investigate other ways to deploy Cardano in the country.
In 2019, the Ministry of Education in the country of Georgia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Free University of Tbilisi to use Cardano and Atala, IOHK's decentralized identity software, to build a credential verification system for Georgia.
In 2019, New Balance announced a pilot program on the Cardano blockchain so buyers could track the authenticity of OMN1S Kawhi Leonard basketball shoes.
In April 2021, IOHK and the Ethiopia Ministry of Education announced plans for an identity and record-keeping system on Cardano and Atala for the country's five million school pupils.
In 2021, Hoskinson began working with electronic dance music DJ Paul Oakenfold to release an album, Zombie Lobster, on the Cardano blockchain.
In 2021, IOHK and Dish Network announced a collaboration to investigate the use of distributed ledger technology.
The Cardano blockchain was cited in Quartz as having the potential to help citizens in Zanzibar, Ethiopia, and Burundi get digital IDs.
World Mobile Token (WMT), a project built on Cardano, offers remote mobile network access in Africa with approximately 150 nodes in East Africa (2022). Mark Cuban is cited as being skeptical about the project and Cardano adoption.
In 2023, a Ghanaian startup named "Mazzuma" received funding from the Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator. MassumaGPT aims to use AI in its contract creation platform.
=== Decentralized finance ===
Cardano implemented decentralized finance (DeFi) services on September 12, 2021, including an upgrade to enable smart contracts and the ability to build decentralized applications (DApps). Also included is Plutus, a smart contract language written in Haskell, and Marlowe, a domain-specific language designed by Simon Thompson for non-programmers in the financial sector.
=== Partner chains ===
In November 2023 Cardano began introducing sidechains, referred to by the project as "partner chains". Sidechains are intended to perform off-chain computations, known as smart contracts, while using the Cardano network for settlement. The first example of such a chain, named "Midnight", will make use of the Polkadot framework in combination with Cardano.
=== Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) ===
Cardano also enables creating non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Snoop Dogg released several thousand NFTs in a project named "Baked Nation" for the Cardano chain in April 2022. In 2023 a digital artist from the UK sold 7,200 individual works of humanoid deer for almost £500,000 on Cardano.
== Legal status and regulation ==
In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a US regulator, issued a complaint against the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken for offering unregistered securities (in violation of the Securities Act) and promising returns on investment for staking in multiple proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies, including Cardano. Without any admission of wrongdoing, Kraken agreed to pay a fine of $30 million and halt its staking program in response.
In June 2023, the SEC sued Binance. Among the allegations was that Cardano was a security and so the cryptocurrency exchange was trading illegally in the US. IOG responded that the filing was inaccurate and that Ada was not a security. Robinhood Markets said it would remove Cardano and two other proof of stake coins from its platform. The Ada price fell from $0.38 to $0.26 in a day on the FT Wilshire index. Both the Wall Street Journal and The Times linked a fall in the price of Cardano – 19 per cent in June – and a slide for other major coins to the SEC's actions. In late November, Robinhood re-enabled trading in Ada. The price was $1.09 at the end of the month. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson | Boris Johnson | Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He was previously Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and the second mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 2001 to 2008 and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023.
In his youth Johnson attended Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, and he was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1986. In 1989 he began writing for The Daily Telegraph, and from 1999 to 2005 he was the editor of The Spectator. He became a member of the Shadow Cabinet of Michael Howard in 2001 before being dismissed over a claim that he had lied about an extramarital affair. After Howard resigned, Johnson became a member of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet. He was elected mayor of London in 2008 and resigned from the House of Commons to focus his attention on the mayoralty. He was re-elected mayor in 2012, but did not run for re-election in 2016. At the 2015 general election he was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Johnson was a prominent figure in the Brexit campaign in the 2016 EU membership referendum. After the referendum, Prime Minister Theresa May appointed him foreign secretary. He resigned from the position in 2018 in protest at both the Chequers Agreement and May's approach to Brexit.
Johnson succeeded May as prime minister. He re-opened Brexit negotiations with the EU and in early September he prorogued Parliament; the Supreme Court later ruled the prorogation to have been unlawful. After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement but failing to win parliamentary support, Johnson called a snap general election to be held in December 2019, in which he won a landslide victory. During Johnson's premiership, the government responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by introducing various emergency powers to mitigate its impact and approved a nationwide vaccination programme, which was one of the fastest in the world. He also responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorising foreign aid and weapons shipments to Ukraine. In the Partygate scandal, it was found that numerous parties had been held at 10 Downing Street during national COVID-19 lockdowns, and COVID-19 social distancing laws were breached by 83 individuals, including Johnson, who in April 2022 was issued with a fixed penalty notice.
The publishing of the Sue Gray report in May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to a vote of confidence in his leadership amongst Conservative MPs, which he won. In July 2022, revelations over his appointment of Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip of the party while knowing of allegations of sexual misconduct against him led to a mass resignation of members of his government and to Johnson announcing his resignation as prime minister. He was succeeded as prime minister by Liz Truss, his foreign secretary. He remained in the House of Commons as a backbencher until June 2023, when he received the draft of the Commons Privileges Committee investigation into his conduct that unanimously found that he had lied to the Commons on numerous occasions. Johnson resigned his position as MP the same day.
Johnson is a controversial figure in British politics. His supporters have praised him for being humorous, witty and entertaining, with an appeal that reaches beyond traditional Conservative Party voters, viewing him as an electoral asset to the party. During his premiership, his supporters lauded him for "getting Brexit done", overseeing the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme, which was amongst the fastest in the world, and being one of the first world leaders to offer humanitarian and military support to Ukraine, following the Russian invasion of the country. Conversely, his critics have accused him of lying, elitism, cronyism and bigotry. His tenure also encompassed several controversies and scandals.
== Early life and education ==
=== Childhood ===
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, to Stanley Johnson, then studying economics at Columbia University, and Charlotte Fawcett, an artist, whose father Sir James Fawcett, was a prominent barrister and president of the European Commission of Human Rights from 1972 to 1981. Johnson is one of only two British prime ministers to have been an American citizen (see Honorary citizenship of the United States). Johnson's parents returned to the UK in September 1964 so Charlotte could study at the University of Oxford. She lived with her son in Summertown, Oxford, and in September 1965 she gave birth to a daughter, Rachel. In July 1965, the family moved to Crouch End in north London, and in February 1966 they relocated to Washington, DC, where Stanley worked with the World Bank. Stanley then took a job with a policy panel on population control, and moved the family to Norwalk, Connecticut, in June. A third child, Leo, was born in September 1967.
The family returned to the UK in 1969, and lived at West Nethercote Farm in Winsford, Somerset, Stanley's family home in Exmoor. His father was regularly absent, leaving Johnson to be raised largely by his mother, assisted by au pairs. As a child, Johnson was quiet, studious, and deaf, resulting in several operations to insert grommets into his ears. He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in intellectual activities from a young age. Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be "world king". Having no other friends, the siblings became very close.
In late 1969, the family moved to Maida Vale in west London, while Stanley began post-graduate research at the London School of Economics. In 1970 Charlotte and the children briefly returned to Nethercote, where Johnson attended Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle in Primrose Hill, where they were educated at Primrose Hill Primary School. A fourth child, Joseph, was born in late 1971.
After Stanley secured employment at the European Commission in April 1973, he moved his family to Uccle, Brussels, where Johnson attended the European School, Brussels I and learnt to speak French. Charlotte had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised with depression, after which Johnson and his siblings were sent back to the UK in 1975 to attend Ashdown House, a preparatory boarding school in East Sussex. There, he developed interests in rugby, Ancient Greek, and Latin. In December 1978 his parents' relationship broke down; they divorced in 1980, and Charlotte moved to Notting Hill, London, where her children joined her for much of their time.
=== Eton and Oxford: 1977–1987 ===
Johnson gained a King's Scholarship to study at Eton College, a boarding school near Windsor, Berkshire. Arriving in the autumn term of 1977, he began going by his middle name Boris, and developed "the eccentric English persona" for which he became famous. He denounced Catholicism and joined the Church of England. School reports complained about his idleness, complacency, and lateness, but he was popular at Eton.
Johnson's friends were largely from the wealthy upper classes; his best friends were Darius Guppy and Charles Spencer. Both would go on to accompany him at the University of Oxford and remained his friends into adulthood. Johnson excelled in English and the Classics, winning prizes in both, and became secretary of the school debating society and editor of the school newspaper. In late 1981 he became a member of Pop, a small, self-selecting elite group of school prefects. After leaving Eton, Johnson went on a gap year to Australia, where he taught English and Latin at Timbertop, an Outward Bound-inspired campus of Geelong Grammar, an independent boarding school.
Johnson won a scholarship to read Literae humaniores at Balliol College, Oxford, a four-year course in Classics, ancient languages, literature, history, and philosophy. Matriculating in late 1983, he was one of a generation of Oxford undergraduates who dominated British politics and media in the early 21st century, including Cameron, William Hague, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Nick Boles. While at Oxford, Johnson joined the college's rugby union team as a tighthead prop. To his later regret, he joined the Bullingdon Club, an exclusive drinking society notorious for vandalism. Many years later, a group photograph including himself and Cameron in Bullingdon Club formal dress led to much negative press coverage. While at Oxford, he began a relationship with Allegra Mostyn-Owen, cover girl for Tatler magazine and daughter of Christie's Education chairman William Mostyn-Owen. They became engaged.
In the summer of 1984 Boris Johnson and his sister Rachel volunteered at Kibbutz Kfar HaNassi in northern Israel, where they stayed with an Israeli family originally from Leeds.
Johnson was popular and well known at Oxford. Alongside Guppy, he edited the university's satirical magazine Tributary. In 1984, Johnson was elected secretary of the Oxford Union, and campaigned unsuccessfully for the position of Union President. In 1986, Johnson ran successfully for president, but his term was not distinguished or memorable, and questions were raised regarding his competence and seriousness. At graduation, Johnson was awarded an upper second-class degree, and was deeply unhappy he did not receive a first.
== Early career ==
=== The Times and The Daily Telegraph: 1987–1994 ===
In September 1987, Johnson and Mostyn-Owen married. They settled in West Kensington, London. In late 1987, through family connections, he began work as a graduate trainee at The Times. Scandal erupted when Johnson wrote an article for the newspaper on the archaeological discovery of Edward II's palace, having invented a quote which he falsely attributed to the historian Colin Lucas, his godfather. After the paper's editor, Charles Wilson, learnt of the matter, he dismissed Johnson.
Johnson secured employment on the lead-writing desk of The Daily Telegraph, having met its editor, Max Hastings, while at university. His articles appealed to the newspaper's Conservative-voting "Middle England" readership, and he was known for his distinctive literary style, replete with old-fashioned phrasing and for regularly referring to the readership as "my friends". In early 1989, Johnson was appointed to the newspaper's Brussels bureau to report on the European Commission, remaining in the post until 1994. A strong critic of the integrationist Commission president Jacques Delors, he established himself as one of the city's few Eurosceptic journalists. He wrote articles about euromyths: that Brussels had recruited sniffer dogs to ensure that all manure smelt the same, they were about to dictate the acceptable curve of British bananas, limit the power of their vacuum cleaners and order women to return their old sex toys. He wrote that euro notes made people impotent and that a plan to blow up the Berlaymont building was in place because asbestos cladding made the building too dangerous to inhabit. Many of his fellow journalists were critical of his articles, saying they often contained lies designed to discredit the commission. The Europhile Conservative politician Chris Patten later said that Johnson was "one of the greatest exponents of fake journalism". Johnson opposed banning handguns after the Dunblane school massacre, writing in his column "Nanny is confiscating their toys. It is like one of those vast Indian programmes of compulsory vasectomy."
According to Sonia Purnell, one of Johnson's biographers and his Brussels deputy, he helped make Euroscepticism "an attractive and emotionally resonant cause for the Right", whereas it had been associated previously with the Left. Johnson's articles exacerbated tensions between the Conservative Party's Eurosceptic and Europhile factions. As a result, he earned the mistrust of many party members. His writings were also a key influence on the emergence of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the early 1990s. Conrad Black, then proprietor of The Daily Telegraph, said Johnson "was such an effective correspondent for us in Brussels that he greatly influenced British opinion on this country's relations with Europe".
In February 1990 Johnson's wife Allegra broke up with him; after several attempts at reconciliation, their marriage ended in April 1993. He began a relationship with childhood friend Marina Wheeler, who had moved to Brussels in 1990. They were married in May 1993. Soon after, Marina gave birth to a daughter. Johnson and his new wife settled in Islington, north London, an area known for its association with the left-liberal intelligentsia. Under the influence of this milieu and of his wife, Johnson moved in a more liberal direction on issues such as climate change, LGBT rights and race relations. While in Islington, the couple had three more children, all given the surname Johnson-Wheeler. They were sent to the local Canonbury Primary School and then to private secondary schools. Devoting much time to his children, Johnson wrote a book of verse, The Perils of the Pushy Parents: A Cautionary Tale, which was published to largely poor reviews.
=== Political columnist: 1994–1999 ===
Back in London, Hastings turned down Johnson's request to become a war reporter, instead promoting him to assistant editor and chief political columnist. Johnson's column received praise for being ideologically eclectic and distinctively written, and earned him Commentator of the Year Award at the What the Papers Say awards. Some critics condemned his writing style as bigotry; in columns he used the words "piccaninnies" and "watermelon smiles" when referring to Africans, championed European colonialism in Uganda and referred to gay men as "tank-topped bumboys".
In 1993, Johnson outlined his desire to run as a Conservative in the 1994 European Parliament elections. Andrew Mitchell convinced Major not to veto Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency. He turned his attention to obtaining a seat in the House of Commons instead. After being rejected as Conservative candidate for Holborn and St. Pancras, he was selected the Conservative candidate for Clwyd South in north Wales, then a Labour Party safe seat. Spending six weeks campaigning, he attained 9,091 votes (23 per cent) in the 1997 general election, losing to Labour candidate Martyn Jones.
Scandal erupted in June 1995 when a recording of a 1990 telephone conversation between Johnson and his friend Darius Guppy was made public. In it, Guppy said that his criminal activities involving insurance fraud were being investigated by News of the World journalist Stuart Collier, and he asked Johnson to provide him with Collier's private address, seeking to have the latter beaten. Johnson agreed, although he expressed concern that he would be associated with the attack. When the phone conversation was published, Johnson stated that ultimately he had not obliged Guppy's request. Hastings reprimanded Johnson but did not dismiss him.
Johnson was given a regular column in The Spectator, sister publication to The Daily Telegraph, which attracted mixed reviews and was often thought rushed. In 1999, he was also given a column reviewing new cars in the American men's monthly magazine GQ. The large number of parking fines that Johnson acquired while testing cars frustrated staff. At The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator, he was consistently late delivering copy, forcing staff to stay late to accommodate him; some related that if they published without his work, he would shout at them with expletives.
Johnson's April 1998 appearance on the BBC's satirical current affairs show Have I Got News for You brought him national fame. He was invited back on to later episodes, including as a guest presenter; for his 2003 appearance, Johnson was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. After these appearances, he came to be recognised on the street, and was invited to appear on other shows, such as Top Gear, Parkinson, Breakfast with Frost, and Question Time.
=== The Spectator and MP for Henley: 1999–2008 ===
In July 1999, Conrad Black offered Johnson the editorship of The Spectator on the condition he abandon his parliamentary aspirations; Johnson agreed. While retaining The Spectator's traditional right-wing bent, Johnson welcomed contributions from leftist writers and cartoonists. Under Johnson's editorship, the magazine's circulation grew by 10% to 62,000 and it became profitable. His editorship also drew criticism; some opined that under him The Spectator avoided serious issues, while colleagues became annoyed that he was regularly absent from the office, meetings, and events. He gained a reputation as a poor political pundit because of incorrect political predictions. His father-in-law Charles Wheeler and others strongly criticised him for allowing Spectator columnist Taki Theodoracopulos to publish racist and antisemitic language. Journalist Charlotte Edwardes wrote in The Times in 2019 that Johnson had squeezed her thigh at a private lunch at the Spectator in 1999 and that another woman had told her he had done the same to her. A spokesman denied the allegation.
In 2003, Johnson alongside Nicholas Burgess Farrell had a three-hour interview with then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in his private palace in Sardinia. When excerpts were published in The Spectator and Italian newspapers, they caused a controversy that almost led to an institutional crisis due to Berlusconi's controversial statements about among others Benito Mussolini and the Italian judiciary. In 2004, Johnson published an editorial in The Spectator after the murder of Ken Bigley suggesting that Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status and "hooked on grief" over the Hillsborough disaster, which Johnson partly blamed on "drunken fans". In an appendix added to a later edition of his 2005 book The Dream of Rome, Tell MAMA and the Muslim Council of Britain criticised Johnson for arguing Islam has caused the Muslim world to be "literally centuries behind" the West.
==== Becoming an MP ====
Following Michael Heseltine's retirement, Johnson decided to stand as Conservative candidate for Henley, a Conservative safe seat in Oxfordshire. The local Conservative branch selected him although it was split over Johnson's candidacy. Some thought him amusing and charming while others disliked his flippant attitude and perceived lack of knowledge of the local area. Assisted by his television fame, Johnson won the seat in the 2001 general election. Alongside his Islington home, Johnson bought a farmhouse outside Thame in his new constituency. He regularly attended Henley social events and occasionally wrote for the Henley Standard. His constituency surgeries proved popular, and he joined local campaigns to stop the closure of Townlands Hospital and the local air ambulance.
In Parliament, Johnson was appointed to a standing committee assessing the Proceeds of Crime Bill, but missed many of its meetings. Despite his credentials as a public speaker, his speeches in the House of Commons were widely deemed lacklustre. He attended around half of Commons votes, usually supporting the Conservative party line. In free votes, he demonstrated a more socially liberal attitude, supporting the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the repeal of Section 28. In 2001 Johnson had spoken out against plans to repeal Section 28, saying it was "Labour's appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools". After initially stating he would not, he supported the government's plans to join the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and in April 2003 visited occupied Baghdad. In August 2004, he backed unsuccessful impeachment procedures against Prime Minister Tony Blair for "high crimes and misdemeanours" regarding the war, and in December 2006 described the invasion as "a colossal mistake and misadventure".
Although labelling Johnson "ineffably duplicitous" for breaking his promise not to become an MP, Black decided not to dismiss him because he "helped promote the magazine and raise its circulation". Johnson remained editor of The Spectator, while also writing columns for The Daily Telegraph and GQ, and making television appearances. His 2001 book, Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump, recounted that year's election campaign, while 2003's Lend Me Your Ears collected previously published columns and articles. In 2004, HarperCollins published his first novel: Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errors revolved around the life of a Conservative MP and contained autobiographical elements. Responding to criticism that he was juggling too many jobs, he cited Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli as exemplars who combined political and literary careers. To manage stress, he took up jogging and cycling, and became so well known for the latter that Andrew Gimson suggested he was "perhaps the most famous cyclist in Britain".
Following William Hague's resignation as Conservative leader, the party elected Iain Duncan Smith. Johnson had a strained relationship with Duncan Smith, and The Spectator became critical of his party leadership. Duncan Smith was succeeded by Michael Howard in November 2003; Howard deemed Johnson to be the most popular Conservative politician with the electorate and appointed him vice-chairman of the party, responsible for overseeing its electoral campaign. In his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle of May 2004, Howard appointed Johnson as shadow arts minister. In October, Howard ordered Johnson to apologise publicly in Liverpool for publishing a Spectator article – anonymously written by Simon Heffer – which said the crowds at the Hillsborough disaster had contributed to the incident and that Liverpudlians had a predilection for reliance on the welfare state.
In November 2004, the tabloids revealed that since 2000 Johnson had been having an affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt, resulting in two abortions. Johnson denied the allegations but they were subsequently proven to be true, and Howard dismissed him as vice-chairman and shadow arts minister when he refused to resign.
==== Second term ====
At the 2005 general election, Johnson was re-elected MP for Henley. Labour won the election and Howard stood down as Conservative leader; Johnson backed David Cameron as his successor. After Cameron was elected, he appointed Johnson as the shadow higher education minister. Interested in streamlining university funding, Johnson supported Labour's proposed top-up fees. He campaigned in 2006 to become the Rector of the University of Edinburgh, but his support for top-up fees damaged his campaign, and he came third.
In April 2006, the News of the World alleged that Johnson was having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley; the pair did not comment, and shortly afterwards Johnson began employing Fazackerley. In September 2006, Papua New Guinea's High Commission protested after he compared the Conservatives' frequently changing leadership to cannibalism in the country.
In 2005, The Spectator's new chief executive, Andrew Neil, dismissed Johnson as editor. To make up for this loss of income, Johnson negotiated with The Daily Telegraph to raise his salary from £200,000 to £250,000, averaging £5,000 per column. He presented a popular history television show, The Dream of Rome, which was broadcast in January 2006; a book followed in February. A sequel, After Rome, focused on early Islamic history. In 2007 he earned £540,000, making him the third-highest-earning MP that year.
== Mayor of London (2008–2016) ==
=== Mayoral election: 2007–2008 ===
In September, Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London after a public London-wide primary. Johnson's campaign focused on reducing youth crime, making public transport safer, and replacing the articulated buses with an updated version of the AEC Routemaster. Targeting the Conservative-leaning suburbs of outer London, it capitalised on perceptions that the Labour Mayoralty had neglected them in favour of inner London. His campaign emphasised his popularity, even among those who opposed his policies, with opponents complaining a common attitude among voters was: "I'm voting for Boris because he is a laugh." The campaign of Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone portrayed Johnson as an out-of-touch toff and bigot.
In the election, Johnson received 43% and Livingstone 37% of first-preference votes; when second-preference votes were added, Johnson was victorious with 53% to Livingstone's 47%. Johnson subsequently announced his intention to stand down as MP for Henley.
=== First term: 2008–2012 ===
After Johnson became mayor, those in City Hall deemed too closely allied to Livingstone's administration had their employment terminated. Johnson appointed Tim Parker as his deputy mayor, but after Parker began taking increasing control at City Hall, Johnson dismissed him. Many in the Conservative Party initially distanced themselves from Johnson's administration, fearing it would be damaging for the 2010 general election.
During the campaign, Johnson had confided to Brian Paddick he was unsure how he would maintain his lifestyle on the mayoral salary of £140,000 a year. He agreed to continue his Daily Telegraph column, thus earning a further £250,000 a year. His team believed this would cause controversy and made him promise to donate 20% of his Daily Telegraph salary to a charitable cause. Johnson resented this, and ultimately did not pay the full 20%. Controversy erupted when on the BBC's HARDtalk he referred to the £250,000 salary as "chicken feed"; this was at the time approximately 10 times the average yearly wage for a British worker.
During his first administration, Johnson was embroiled in several personal scandals. After moving to a new house in Islington, he built a shed without obtaining planning permission; after neighbours complained, he dismantled it. The press also accused him of having an affair with Helen Macintyre and of fathering her child, allegations that he did not deny. Johnson was accused of warning Damian Green that police were planning to arrest him; Johnson denied the claims. He was accused of cronyism, in particular for appointing Veronica Wadley as the chair of London's Arts Council. In the parliamentary expenses scandal, he was accused of excessive expenses claims for taxis.
Johnson remained a popular figure in London with a strong celebrity status in the city.
==== Policies ====
Johnson made no major changes to the mayoral system of the previous administration. However, he did reverse several other measures implemented by Livingstone: ending the city's oil deal with Venezuela, abolishing The Londoner newsletter, and scrapping the half-yearly inspections of black cabs, which was reinstated three years later. Abolishing the western wing of the congestion charging zone, he cancelled plans to increase the congestion charge for four-wheel-drive vehicles. He was subsequently accused of failing to publish an independent report on air pollution commissioned by the Greater London Authority, which revealed the city breached legal limits on nitrogen dioxide levels.
Johnson retained Livingstone projects such as Crossrail and the 2012 Olympic Games, but was accused of trying to take credit for them. He introduced a public bicycle scheme that had been mooted by Livingstone's administration; colloquially known as "Boris Bikes", the part privately financed system was a significant financial loss but proved popular. Despite Johnson's support of cycling, and his much-publicised identity as a cyclist, some cycling groups argued he had failed to make the city's roads safer for cyclists. As per his election pledge, he commissioned the development of the New Routemaster buses for central London. He also ordered the construction of a cable car system that crossed the River Thames between the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks.
Johnson's first policy initiative was a ban on drinking alcohol on public transport. He announced plans to extend pay-as-you-go Oyster cards to national rail services in London. A pledge in Johnson's manifesto was to retain Tube ticket offices, in opposition to Livingstone's proposal to close up to 40. On 2 July 2008, the Mayor's office announced the closure plan was to be abandoned. On 21 November 2013, Transport for London announced that all London Underground ticket offices would close by 2015. In financing these projects, Johnson's administration borrowed £100 million, while public transport fares were increased by 50%.
During his first term, Johnson was perceived as having moved leftward on certain issues, supporting the London Living Wage and endorsing an amnesty for illegal migrants. He tried placating critics who had deemed him a bigot by appearing at London's gay pride parade and praising ethnic minority newspapers. Johnson broke from the traditional protocol of those in public office not publicly commenting on other nations' elections by endorsing Barack Obama for the 2008 United States presidential election.
==== Relations with the police, finance, and the media ====
Johnson appointed himself chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), and in October 2008 successfully pushed for the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair, after Blair was criticised for allegedly handing contracts to friends and for his handling of the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. This earned Johnson respect among Conservatives, who interpreted it as his first act of strength. Johnson resigned as chairman of the MPA in January 2010, but throughout his mayoralty was highly supportive of the Metropolitan Police, particularly during the controversy surrounding the death of Ian Tomlinson. Overall crime in London fell during his administration, but his claim that serious youth crime had decreased proved to be false, and he acknowledged the error. He was criticised for his response to the 2011 London riots.
Johnson championed London's financial sector and denounced what he saw as "banker bashing" following the 2008 financial crisis, condemning the anti-capitalist Occupy London movement that appeared in 2011. He collected donations from the city's wealthy for a charitable enterprise, the Mayor's Fund, which he had established to aid disadvantaged youths. It initially announced the fund would raise £100 million, but by 2010 it had only earnt £1.5 million. He also maintained extensive personal contacts throughout the British media, which resulted in widespread favourable press coverage of his administration. In turn he remained largely supportive of his friends in the media, including Rupert Murdoch, during the News International phone hacking scandal.
The formation of the Forensic Audit Panel was announced on 8 May 2008. The panel was tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at the London Development Agency and the Greater London Authority. Johnson's announcement was criticised by Labour for the perceived politicisation of this nominally independent panel. The head of the panel, Patience Wheatcroft, was married to a Conservative councillor and three of the four remaining panel members also had close links to the Conservatives.
==== Re-election campaign ====
Up for re-election in 2012, Johnson again hired Crosby to orchestrate his campaign.
Before the election, Johnson published Johnson's Life of London, a work of popular history that historian A. N. Wilson characterised as a "coded plea" for votes.
Polls suggested that while Livingstone's approach to transport was preferred, voters in London placed greater trust in Johnson on crime and the economy. Johnson's campaign emphasised the accusation that Livingstone was guilty of tax evasion, for which Livingstone called Johnson a "bare-faced liar". Political scientist Andrew Crines believed that Livingstone's campaign focused on criticising Johnson rather than presenting an alternate and progressive vision of London's future. Johnson was re-elected.
=== Second term: 2012–2016 ===
After a successful bid under Livingstone in 2005, London hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics, with Johnson as board co-chair. He improved transportation around London by making more tickets available and adding buses around the capital when thousands of spectators were temporary visitors. Johnson was accused of covering up pollution ahead of the games by deploying dust suppressants to remove air particulates near monitoring stations. In November 2013, Johnson announced major changes to the operation of the London Underground, including the extension of operating hours. All staffed ticket offices were replaced with automated ticketing systems.
Johnson was close friends with American entrepreneur and model Jennifer Arcuri, with The Sunday Times describing him as a regular visitor to her flat, and implying they were in a sexual relationship. Arcuri and her company, Innotech, were awarded substantial government grants, and Johnson intervened to allow her onto three trade mission trips. The Sunday Times said in September 2019 that Johnson failed to declare his personal relationship as a conflict of interest. The Greater London Authority referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) "so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former mayor of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office", for the Mayor is also London's police and crime commissioner. On 9 November 2019 it was revealed that the IOPC had decided to publish its report after the general election on 12 December. The IOPC eventually issued its report in May 2020, concluding that, although there was no basis for any criminal charge, there was evidence that the close relationship between Johnson and Arcuri had influenced decisions, that Johnson should have declared an interest, and that his failure to do this could have breached the London Assembly's code of conduct.
In 2015, Johnson criticised then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's false comments that there were no-go zones in London inaccessible for non-Muslims. Johnson said Trump was "betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States", becoming the first senior politician in the UK to declare Trump unfit for office, but rejecting calls for him to be banned from the country. In 2016, he said he was "genuinely worried that [Trump] could become president", telling ITV's Tom Bradby that being mistaken for Trump in New York was "one of the worst moments" of his life.
Johnson did not run for a third mayoral and stepped down on 5 May 2016 following the election. A YouGov poll commissioned at the end of Johnson's term revealed that 52% of Londoners believed he did a "good job" while 29% believed he did a "bad job".
== Return to Parliament ==
Johnson initially said that he would not return to the House of Commons while mayor. After much media speculation, in August 2014 he sought selection as the Conservative candidate for the safe seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the 2015 general election. In the 2015 general election, Johnson was elected. There was speculation that he had returned to Parliament because he wanted to replace Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister.
=== Brexit campaign: 2015–2016 ===
In February 2016, Johnson endorsed Vote Leave in the "Out" campaign for the 2016 European Union membership referendum. Following this announcement, which was interpreted by financial markets as making Brexit more probable, the pound sterling slumped by nearly 2% against the US dollar, reaching its lowest level since March 2009.
In April 2016, in response to a comment by President Barack Obama that Britain should remain in the European Union, Johnson wrote an "ancestral dislike" of Britain owing to his "part-Kenyan" background may have shaped Obama's views. Several politicians condemned his comments as racist and unacceptable. Conversely, former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage defended them.
Johnson supported Vote Leave's statement that the government was committed to Turkish accession to the EU. Vote Leave was accused of implying that 80 million Turks would come to the UK if it stayed in the EU. When interviewed in January 2019, he said he had not mentioned Turkey during the campaign. In a televised debate on 22 June 2016, Johnson declared 23 June could be "Britain's independence day". According to James Murdoch, Johnson did not believe the Brexit referendum would pass and when, during a meeting between him and other executives of Fox News, he was asked its potential result he replied "We'll see".
Following the victory of the "Leave" campaign, Cameron resigned. Johnson was widely regarded as the front-runner to succeed him in the consequent Conservative leadership election but announced he would not stand. Shortly before this, Michael Gove, hitherto a Johnson ally, concluded that Johnson "cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead". The Daily Telegraph called Gove's comments "the most spectacular political assassination in a generation". Johnson endorsed Andrea Leadsom's candidature, but she dropped out, leaving Theresa May to be elected uncontested.
=== Foreign Secretary: 2016–2018 ===
May appointed Johnson foreign secretary in July 2016. Analysts saw it as a tactic to weaken Johnson politically: the new positions of "Brexit secretary" and international trade secretary left the foreign secretary as a figurehead. Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country and unable to mobilise backbenchers against her, while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU.
Some journalists and foreign politicians criticised Johnson's appointment because of his controversial statements about other countries. His tenure attracted criticism from diplomats and foreign policy experts. Several diplomats, FCO staff and foreign ministers who worked with Johnson compared his leadership unfavourably to previous foreign secretaries for his perceived lack of conviction or substantive positions. A senior official in Obama's government suggested Johnson's appointment would push the US further towards Germany at the expense of the Special Relationship with the UK. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi walked out of a meeting with Johnson after it did not "get beyond the pleasantries".
Johnson's visit to Turkey in September 2016 was tense because he had won Douglas Murray's offensive poetry competition about the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, four months earlier. When questioned by a journalist whether he would apologise, Johnson dismissed the matter as "trivia". Johnson pledged to help Turkey join the EU and expressed support for Erdogan's government. Johnson described the Gülen movement as a "cult" and supported Turkey's post-coup purges.
Johnson supported the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen and refused to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia. In September 2016, human rights groups accused him of blocking the UN inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Given the UK-Saudi alliance, in December 2016, he attracted attention for commenting the Saudis were akin to the Iranians in "puppeteering and playing proxy wars". In 2017, Johnson told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran after being arrested for training journalists in a BBC World Service Trust project – had been "simply teaching people journalism". Facing criticism, Johnson stated he had been misquoted and nothing he said had justified Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence. In 2018, Johnson backed the Iran nuclear deal framework, despite Trump's withdrawal.
In 2017, Johnson said that Gibraltar's sovereignty was "not going to change" after Brexit. Johnson promised while in Northern Ireland that Brexit would leave the Irish border "absolutely unchanged". Johnson visited Anguilla and Tortola in September 2017 to confirm the UK's commitment to helping restore British territories devastated by Hurricane Irma.
In September 2017, he was criticised for reciting lines from Rudyard Kipling's Mandalay while visiting a Myanmar temple; the British ambassador, who was with him, suggested it was "not appropriate". In October 2017, he faced criticism for stating the Libyan city of Sirte could become an economic success like Dubai: "all they have to do is clear the dead bodies away".
Initially favouring a less hostile approach to Russia, Johnson soon backed a more aggressive policy. Following the March 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, an act which the UK government blamed on Russia, Johnson compared Vladimir Putin's hosting of the World Cup in Russia to Adolf Hitler's hosting of the Olympic Games in Berlin. Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced Johnson's "unacceptable and unworthy" parallel towards Russia, a "nation that lost millions of lives in fighting Nazism". Johnson described the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as "divisive" and a "threat" that left Europe dependent on a "malign Russia" for its energy supplies.
Johnson condemned the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, comparing the situation with the displacement of Palestinians in 1948. Johnson supported the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting the Syrian Kurds from Afrin. He accused the UNHRC of focusing disproportionately on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.
In a September 2017 op-ed, Johnson reiterated the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit, suggesting it go to the National Health Service (NHS). Cabinet colleagues criticised him for reviving the assertion. Following the 2017 general election, Johnson denied media reports he intended to challenge May's leadership. In a February 2018 letter to May, Johnson suggested that Northern Ireland may have to accept border controls after Brexit, and it would not seriously affect trade, having said a hard border would be unthinkable. In June, he was reported to have said "fuck business" when asked about corporate concerns regarding a 'hard' Brexit.
Secret recordings obtained in June 2018 revealed Johnson's dissatisfaction with Prime Minister May's negotiating style, accusing her of being too collaborative with the EU in Brexit negotiations. Comparing May's approach to Trump – who at the time was engaged in a combative trade war with the EU because it raised tariffs on metal – Johnson said: "Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He'd go in bloody hard ... There'd be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere." He accused individuals of scaremongering over a Brexit "meltdown", saying "No panic. Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end."
In April 2018, Johnson travelled to Italy to attend a party at the Palazzo Terranova, owned by former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev and hosted by his son Evgeny. He travelled without security protection or other officials, and did not document the trip, which led to accusations of Johnson having misled parliament. In 2023, it was revealed that Lord Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant of his department, was unaware of the trip. Johnson stated that "no government business was discussed" at the event as far as he was aware. Lebedev's villa was monitored by the Italian secret service, who suspected it to be used for espionage activities. Johnson granted a peerage to Evgeny in 2020, against the advice of the MI6, and met with criticism over security concerns.
In July 2018, three days after the cabinet had its meeting to agree on a Brexit strategy, Johnson, along with Brexit secretary David Davis, resigned his post.
=== Return to the backbenches: 2018–2019 ===
Johnson returned to the role of a backbench MP. In July, he delivered a resignation speech, stating "it is not too late to save Brexit". In January 2019, Johnson came under criticism for remarks he had made during the 2016 Leave campaign regarding the prospect of Turkish accession to the European Union; he denied making such remarks. In March 2019, he was criticized for saying that expenditure on investigating historic allegations of child abuse was money "spaffed up the wall".
==== Journalism ====
In July 2018, Johnson signed a 12‑month contract to write articles for the Telegraph Media Group. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) reported that this was a breach of the Ministerial Code. Johnson was ordered to apologise for failing to declare £50,000 of earnings. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found the errors were not inadvertent, and that Johnson had failed on nine occasions to make declarations within the rules.
In September 2018, Johnson wrote: "We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail. We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator to Michel Barnier." Senior Tories heavily criticised him, with Alan Duncan of the Foreign Office vowing to ensure the comments marked "the political end of Boris Johnson". In April 2019, the Independent Press Standards Organisation ruled that a claim in a 6 January 2019 article in The Daily Telegraph, "The British people won't be scared into backing a woeful Brexit deal nobody voted for", authored by Johnson, that a no-deal Brexit was "by some margin preferred by the British public" was false, and "represented a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article in breach of Clause 1 (i)" of its guidelines, and required that a correction be published.
==== 2019 Conservative Party leadership election ====
On 12 June 2019, Johnson launched his campaign for the Conservative Party leadership election, saying, "we must leave the EU on 31 October." On the campaign trail, Johnson warned of "catastrophic consequences for voter trust in politics" if the government pushed the EU for further delays. He advocated removing the backstop from any Brexit deal. On 25 and 26 August, he announced plans to retain £7 or £9 billion of the £39 billion divorce payment the UK is due to transfer to the EU upon withdrawal. Johnson initially pledged to cut income tax for earners of more than £50,000 but backed away from this plan in June 2019 after coming under criticism in a televised BBC debate.
Johnson was elected leader with 92,153 votes (66%) to Hunt's 46,656 (34%).
== Premiership (2019–2022) ==
=== First term (July–December 2019) ===
On 24 July 2019, the day following Johnson's election as Conservative Party leader, Queen Elizabeth II accepted Theresa May's resignation and appointed Johnson as prime minister. This made Johnson the first prime minister to be born outside British territories. Johnson appointed Dominic Cummings as his senior advisor.
==== Brexit policy ====
In his first speech as PM, Johnson said that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 with or without a deal, and promised to remove the Irish backstop from the withdrawal agreement. Johnson declared his intention to re-open negotiations, but talks did not immediately resume as the EU refused to accept Johnson's condition that the backstop be removed. On 28 August 2019, UK and EU negotiators agreed to resume regular meetings.
Also on 28 August 2019, Johnson declared he had asked the Queen to prorogue Parliament from 10 September, reducing the time in which Parliament could block a no-deal Brexit and causing a political controversy. The Queen at Privy Council approved prorogation later the same day, and it began on 10 September, scheduled to last until 14 October. Some suggested that this prorogation amounted to a self-coup, and on 31 August 2019, protests occurred throughout the United Kingdom. By 2 September 2019, three separate court cases challenging Johnson's action were in progress or scheduled to take place, and on 11 September, three Scottish judges ruled the prorogation of the UK Parliament to be unlawful. On 12 September, Johnson denied lying to the Queen over suspension of the Parliament, while a Belfast Court rejected claims that his Brexit plans would have a negative impact on Northern Ireland's peace policy. On 24 September, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Johnson's advice to prorogue Parliament was unlawful, and therefore the prorogation was rendered null.
When Parliament resumed on 3 September 2019, Johnson indicated he would call a general election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act after opposition and rebel Conservative MPs successfully voted against the government to take control of the order of business to prevent a no-deal exit. Despite government opposition, the Benn Act, a bill to block a no-deal exit, passed the Commons on 4 September 2019, causing Johnson to propose a general election on 15 October. His motion was unsuccessful as it failed to command the support of two-thirds of the House.
In October 2019, following bilateral talks between Johnson and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the UK and EU agreed to a revised deal, which replaced the backstop with a new Northern Ireland Protocol.
==== First Cabinet ====
Johnson appointed his Cabinet on 24 July 2019, dismissing 11 senior ministers and accepting the resignation of six others. The mass dismissal was the most extensive postwar Cabinet reorganisation without a change in the ruling party.
Johnson made Dominic Raab the First Secretary of State and foreign secretary.
Sajid Javid became Chancellor of the Exchequer
Priti Patel became Home Secretary.
==== Loss of working majority ====
On 3 September 2019, Phillip Lee crossed the floor to the Liberal Democrats following a disagreement with Johnson's Brexit policy. This left the government without a working majority in the House of Commons. Later that day, 21 Conservative MPs had the party whip withdrawn for defying party orders and supporting an opposition motion. (The whip was restored to 10 former Conservative ministers on 29 October.)
On 5 September 2019, Johnson's brother Jo Johnson resigned from the government and announced that he would step down as MP, describing his position as "torn between family and national interest". Two days later, Amber Rudd resigned as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and from the Conservative Party, describing the withdrawal of the party whip as an "assault on decency and democracy".
==== 2019 general election ====
In October 2019, Parliament was dissolved, and an election called for 12 December. The election resulted in the Conservative Party winning 43.6% of the vote and a parliamentary landslide majority of 80 seats. A key slogan used in the Conservative campaign was "Get Brexit Done".
=== Second term (December 2019 – September 2022) ===
==== Second Cabinet ====
Johnson reshuffled his cabinet in February 2020. Five Cabinet ministers were sacked, including the Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith, a decision that was criticised by several politicians and commentators following his success in restoring the Northern Ireland Executive devolved government. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid resigned from the Cabinet and was replaced by Rishi Sunak; Javid later returned to Johnson's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in June 2021 following the resignation of Matt Hancock.
Johnson reshuffled his cabinet again in September 2021. Changes included the dismissal of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson who had received significant criticism for his handling of disruption to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dominic Raab was moved from foreign secretary to deputy prime minister and justice secretary. Raab was replaced as foreign secretary by Liz Truss.
==== COVID-19 pandemic ====
The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a serious crisis within the first few months of Johnson's second term. Johnson's non-attendance of five COBR briefings during the early months and the failure of the UK government to prepare for and control the outbreak has been criticised. The UK was among the last major European states to close schools, ban public events and order a lockdown. This response is thought by some scientists to have contributed to the UK's high death toll from COVID-19, which as of January 2021 was among the highest in the world.
Reuters reported that scientists were critical of Johnson both for acting too slowly to stop the spread of COVID-19 and for mishandling the government's response; Politico quoted Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty as saying that an earlier initial lockdown would have significantly lowered the death toll. The BMJ published several editorials critical of the policies adopted during the country's public health response. Johnson's public communication over the virus and the UK's test and trace system were also criticised.
On 3 March 2020 Johnson claimed to have shaken hands with COVID-19 patients in hospital on the same day that SAGE had advised the government to warn the public not to shake hands and minimise physical contact, though it was unclear whether the hospital he visited actually contained any coronavirus patients. He continued to shake hands publicly in the following days. On 23 March, a COVID-19 lockdown was imposed throughout the UK, except for a few limited purposes, backed up by new legal powers.
On 27 March, it was announced that Johnson had tested positive for COVID-19. On 5 April, he was admitted to a hospital. The next day, he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit. Johnson left intensive care on 9 April, and left hospital three days later to recuperate at Chequers. After a fortnight at Chequers, he returned to Downing Street on 26 April. Johnson later said that he had been given emergency oxygen while in intensive care, and that doctors had made preparations in case he died.
A scandal in May 2020 involved Johnson's chief political advisor Dominic Cummings, who made a trip with his family to Durham during the March 2020 lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Both Cummings and Johnson rejected widespread calls that Cummings resign. Johnson's defence of Cummings and his refusal to sack him caused a widespread backlash. This resulted in a loss of confidence in the government and specifically its response to the pandemic, referred to as 'the Cummings effect' in The Lancet. Concerns were raised in the study that this could affect the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions.
The Johnson ministry was accused of cronyism in their assignment of contracts related to the pandemic response. Procurement of government contracts for key COVID-19 supplies became less transparent as a result of emergency measures bypassing the usual competitive tendering process. In October 2020 Johnson conceded that the UK's test and trace system and its specially developed contact tracing app, which had been criticised for their cost and operational issues, had caused "frustrations".
Johnson reportedly resisted calls from SAGE and within the government to enact a second lockdown throughout September as COVID-19 infections rose. In April 2021 Johnson denied allegations he had said he would rather "let the bodies pile high in their thousands" on 30 October 2020. The government enacted a second national lockdown on 31 October. Throughout December 2020 COVID-19 cases across the UK rose significantly, straining emergency services and hospitals. In response, the government enacted further restrictions to large parts of southern and eastern England and on 21 December shortened a planned household mixing period over Christmas.
Britain began its COVID-19 vaccination programme in December 2020. Half of UK adults had received at least their first vaccine dose by 20 March 2021. A third lockdown for the whole of England was introduced on 6 January 2021. Record numbers of infections and daily deaths were recorded in the UK throughout January, and the government began exploring quarantine procedures on arrival. Johnson said he was "deeply sorry" and "take[s] full responsibility" as the UK passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the first European country to do so, on 26 January.
In July 2021 Johnson announced that most generalised public health restrictions in England would be lifted and replaced by recommendations. This took place despite an increase in cases driven by the Delta variant. In September 2021 Johnson was pictured in a cabinet meeting, with "at least 30 people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder", without anyone wearing masks and with all windows apparently closed, contradicting government advice. Johnson was also photographed without a face mask during a visit to a hospital in November.
In December 2021 more stringent "Plan B" restrictions for England were put forward, a partial renewal of previous measures due to the increased incidence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. These proposals included face coverings to be required in more public settings, guidance to work from home wherever possible, and requirements of COVID-19 passports to enter certain venues. The government experienced the largest rebellion of Conservative MPs during Johnson's premiership, in opposition to these measures.
==== Immigration ====
In 2019, Johnson promised to reduce net migration to the United Kingdom (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year by the next election. In 2021 net migration to the UK was 488,000, up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries. As a result of Brexit, more EU nationals left the UK than arrived.
In 2021, Johnson's government launched a scheme for Hongkongers following introduction of the 2020 Hong Kong national security law, with more than 180,000 Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders arriving in the UK or being granted in-country extension by March 2024.
Long-term net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022, with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000.
==== Legislative agenda ====
At the State Opening of Parliament on 11 May 2021, a range of proposed laws were announced, including the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill, which would restore the royal prerogative to dissolve Parliament; a Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill to combat deplatforming at universities; an Online Safety Bill that would impose a statutory duty of care on online companies and empower Ofcom to block particular websites; and an Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill that would legally recognise animal sentience. Further laws would introduce mandatory voter identification at general elections, reform the national immigration system, and implement a levelling up policy to reduce imbalances between areas.
==== 2021 Downing Street refurbishment controversy ====
In April 2021 Cummings alleged that Johnson had arranged for donors to "secretly pay" for renovations on the private residence at 11 Downing Street. On 27 April Johnson asked the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, to hold a review about the refurbishment. On 28 April, the Electoral Commission announced it had opened a formal investigation. On the same day Johnson said that he had not broken any laws over the refurbishment and had met the requirements he was obliged to meet. During Prime Minister's Questions, the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, asked: "Who initially paid for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat?"; Johnson responded: "I paid for Downing Street's refurbishment personally."
On 28 May Lord Geidt published a report on the allegations which concluded that Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code and that no conflict, or reasonably perceived conflict, of interest arose. However, Lord Geidt expressed that it was "unwise" for Johnson to have proceeded without "more rigorous regard for how this would be funded". The Electoral Commission reported on 9 December that it found that the Conservative Party had failed to follow the law in not accurately reporting donations to the party from Lord Brownlow and imposed a £17,800 fine on the party. The Herald said the commission's report outlined how, in March, all the money paid by Brownlow and his company had been reimbursed, as had the payments made by the Conservative Party and Cabinet Office. Downing Street had said at the time that the full cost of the works had been met personally by the prime minister.
==== Owen Paterson controversy ====
In November 2021 Johnson backed a motion to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a Conservative MP found to have abused his position by the independent standards commissioner after undertaking paid lobbying. The motion called for the creation of a new Conservative-majority committee to examine reforms of the standards investigation process. Many Conservative MPs refused to support the motion, and 13 defied a three-line whip to vote against it. Following the announcement by opposition parties that they would boycott the new committee, and faced with a backlash in the media and from MPs of all parties, the government announced that a new vote would take place on whether Paterson should be suspended. Paterson announced his resignation as an MP the same day. A by-election in Paterson's former constituency of North Shropshire saw the Liberal Democrat candidate, Helen Morgan, overturn a Conservative majority of nearly 23,000, the seventh largest swing in United Kingdom by-election history.
==== Partygate scandal ====
In December 2021 reports emerged that social gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff in Downing Street had taken place ahead of Christmas 2020 against COVID-19 regulations. Johnson denied these allegations. Following a leaked video showing Downing Street staff joking about a "fictional party", at a press conference rehearsal recorded days after one alleged party took place, Johnson apologised for the contents of the video and suggested he had been misled but had now ordered an inquiry.
On 10 January 2022, ITV News reported that a planned party had taken place on 20 May 2020, during the first lockdown. ITV had obtained an email sent by principal private secretary Martin Reynolds to staff inviting them to "socially distanced drinks" in the garden of No. 10. At the time, people outdoors were not allowed to meet more than one person from outside their household. Two eyewitnesses later alleged that Johnson and Symonds attended, contradicting Johnson's insistence in December 2021 that there were "no parties".
On 12 January, Johnson apologised to MPs in the Commons for "attending an event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown", stating he believed it was "a work event". He said that MPs should await the outcome of the independent inquiry, led by senior civil servant Sue Gray, which he said "will report as soon as possible". There were calls across the House for Johnson to resign. One week later, Conservative former minister David Davis called for Johnson to resign, quoting Leo Amery calling on Neville Chamberlain to resign during the Norway Debate in 1940, and saying: "You have sat there too long for all the good you have done. In the name of God, go."
On 25 January, the Metropolitan Police announced that they were commencing investigations into the Downing Street Parties. An abbreviated version of the Sue Gray report into the controversy was released on 31 January, where Gray concluded there was a "failure of leadership" over the events that she had examined. The release of the full report was delayed pending the Metropolitan Police's investigation.
In April 2022, Johnson was issued a fixed penalty notice as police determined that he committed a criminal offence by breaching the COVID-19 lockdown regulations. Johnson therefore became the first prime minister in British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.
According to Downing Street insiders, Johnson was involved in instigating a party on the occasion of Lee Cain leaving Number 10. What had begun as press office drinks became a party after Johnson arrived, gave a speech and poured drinks for staff. Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner said, "If the latest reports are true, it would mean that not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them. He has deliberately misled the British people at every turn. The prime minister has demeaned his office." On 21 April, MPs voted to refer Johnson to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee to investigate whether he knowingly misled Parliament. Steve Baker said Johnson's "marvellous contrition... only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster's study".
Following the May 2022 local elections, many leading Conservatives in areas where the Conservatives had done badly blamed Johnson and calling on Johnson to resign. On 6 June, Graham Brady announced that the threshold for a vote on Johnson's leadership had been passed; the vote was scheduled for later that same day.
On 3 March 2023, an interim report from the Commons Select Committee of Privileges said there was evidence that "strongly suggests" breaches of coronavirus regulations would have been "obvious" to Johnson. The report also said "There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules". Johnson said none of the evidence showed he "knowingly" misled Parliament. The report stated that the Commons may have been misled on multiple occasions and Johnson "did not correct the statements [at the] earliest opportunity". The committee also stated that Johnson had "personal knowledge" over lockdown gatherings in No 10, which he could have disclosed.
==== Starmer slur controversy ====
While speaking in the House of Commons in January 2022, Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for the non-prosecution of the serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions in the Crown Prosecution Service. Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted. A few days later, Johnson defended his comments but conceded that Starmer "had nothing to do personally with those decisions" by the CPS not to investigate Savile.
==== Vote of confidence ====
In the week prior to and throughout the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II in June 2022, it had been speculated that a vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership of the Conservative Party might soon occur. On 6 June 2022, the Conservative Party announced that Johnson would face a vote of confidence in his leadership of the party, after at least 54 Conservative MPs wrote no-confidence letters to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee. Johnson won the vote, with 211 in favour and 148 against. The number of rebel MPs was larger than had been expected. The result was described by Keir Starmer as the "beginning of the end" for Johnson's premiership.
==== June 2022 by-elections ====
Following heavy Conservative defeats in the 23 June 2022 by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, former party leader Michael Howard called for Johnson to resign, saying: "[Mr Johnson's] biggest asset has always been his ability to win votes but I'm afraid yesterday's results make it clear that he no longer has that ability."
Oliver Dowden, the Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, resigned saying: "somebody must take responsibility". Johnson announced that he had no intention of changing or resigning; senior Conservatives accused him of increasingly "delusional" behaviour. On 26 June 2022 Johnson said: "At the moment I'm thinking actively about the third term and what could happen then, but I will review that when I get to it." He also claimed that he intended to stay as prime minister until the mid-2030s, although Number 10 later said that he had been joking.
==== Pincher scandal ====
Government Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher resigned on 30 June 2022, saying he had "drunk far too much" the night before at the Carlton Club in St James's, London, and having "embarrassed myself and other people". It was later alleged that he sexually assaulted two men, and he was suspended as an MP. On 3 July 2022 six new allegations against Pincher emerged, involving behaviour over a decade.
Johnson allegedly referred to Pincher as "handsy" and Cummings said Johnson joked about him being "Pincher by name, pincher by nature" in 2020, leading to calls for Johnson to explain how much he knew about Pincher's behaviour. Ministers initially said that Johnson was unaware of any specific complaints against Pincher when he was appointed as deputy chief whip. The BBC then reported, however, that an official complaint and subsequent investigation into Pincher, while he was at the Foreign Office (July 2019 to February 2020), had confirmed his misconduct, and that Johnson had been made aware at that time. Sir Simon McDonald, former Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, later said that the prime minister had been briefed "in person" about Pincher.
==== Mass resignations ====
On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other, followed over the next 24 hours by 11 other ministers, as well as Conservative MPs from parliamentary private secretary and other Government positions; other backbenchers also withdrew their support for Johnson. Many of the MPs stated that the Pincher affair had led them to change their minds on the suitability of Johnson to be prime minister. It was reported on 6 July that Johnson could face another confidence vote, with members of the 1922 Committee considering changing the rules as soon as that evening to allow this to happen. By 6 July, there had been a total of 31 resignations. As of May 2022, the government comprised 122 ministers.
==== Announcement of resignation ====
By the morning of 7 July, the newly installed Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, publicly stated his belief that Johnson should resign. Within hours, the BBC and other media reported Johnson's intention to resign. Johnson announced his resignation at 12.30 pm.
I know that there will be many who are relieved, but perhaps quite a few who will be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world – but them's the breaks.
Upon reports of his resignation, the pound sterling temporarily strengthened in value, and UK stocks rose. He remained as prime minister until September, while the Conservative Party chose a new leader. On 5 September 2022, it was announced that Liz Truss had won the Conservative leadership election. She became prime minister the next day. During his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street on 6 September 2022, Johnson referred to the Roman statesman Cincinnatus. Some commentators noted that, while, as Johnson said, Cincinnatus returned to his plough, he was also later recalled to power.
=== Environmental policies ===
In November 2020 Johnson announced a 10-point plan for a "green industrial revolution", to include ending the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, quadrupling the amount of offshore wind power capacity within a decade, funding emissions-cutting proposals, and spurning a proposed green post-COVID-19 recovery. In 2021 the Johnson government announced plans to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035.
Johnson announced that the UK would join the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 at the COP26 summit, which the UK hosted. Before the summit, representatives of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth criticised Johnson's comments on plans to introduce "enforceable limits" on carbon emissions for other countries, which they accused of being unsubstantive, and his government faced criticism from environmental groups for cutting taxes on domestic air travel, given the environmental impact of aviation.
In April 2022, Johnson announced that eight more nuclear reactors would be built on existing nuclear power plant sites and called for an expansion in wind energy. Under these plans, up to 95% of the UK's electricity could come from low-carbon power sources by 2030.
=== Foreign policy ===
Johnson supported the European Union–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement, which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas. Johnson's government placed importance on the "Special Relationship" with the United States. In 2022, his government introduced an asylum deal whereby people entering the UK illegally would be sent to Rwanda.
==== Hong Kong and China ====
Johnson said in July 2019 that his government would be very "pro-China" in an interview with the Hong Kong broadcaster Phoenix TV. He voiced support for Chinese president Xi Jinping's infrastructure investment effort, the Belt and Road Initiative, and promised to keep the United Kingdom "the most open economy in Europe" for Chinese investment.
In June 2020 Johnson announced that if China were to continue pursuing the Hong Kong national security law, the UK would offer 350,000 Hong Kong residents who are British National (Overseas) passport holders, and 2.6 million other eligible individuals, the chance to move to the UK. China accused the UK of interfering in its internal affairs.
Johnson declined to describe the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghur people as "genocide", despite use of the term by the United States. Johnson's government argued that genocide should be decided by the International Criminal Court. Nevertheless, he called what is happening to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as "utterly abhorrent".
The UK joined the AUKUS defence pact with the United States and Australia in September 2021. The pact was denounced by China and caused a French backlash, as it usurped existing plans for Australia to procure French submarines.
On 29 October 2025, The Guardian newspaper revealed that Boris Johnson approved the controversial China's London super-embassy proposal in 2018, a project that remains in limbo seven years later.
==== Afghanistan ====
On 8 July 2021 the day after saying he was "apprehensive" about the future of Afghanistan following what was then the impending withdrawal of US troops, while announcing the near completion of British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Johnson expressed the view that there was "no military path to victory for the Taliban". Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, he blamed the United States for the crisis, saying that NATO alliance members "could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might".
==== UK–EU trade negotiation ====
Following the formal withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020, Johnson's government entered trade negotiations with the EU. Fisheries was a major topic of the negotiations. On 16 October 2020 Johnson said that the UK "must get ready" for no trade deal with the EU. It was announced on 24 December 2020 that the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement had been reached; it came into force formally on 1 May. A fisheries dispute between the UK and France occurred shortly afterwards. Introduction of new UK border checks were delayed until 2022 to minimise the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May 2022, Johnson readied a draft that would unilaterally change parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, citing issues with medical supplies and cuts in VAT. One of the thornier points of contention involves safety regulations for food and plants, where the British government is opposed to a closer alignment with existing EU regulations. The EU rebuffed the idea of changing the text of the treaty to accommodate the British. A unilateral override by the UK would be tantamount to a breach of the agreement. As Johnson sought a more conciliatory tone, sources within the government began to stress that the draft is designed to be an "insurance policy" and would take years to become law.
==== Russia and Ukraine ====
In November 2021 Johnson warned that the European Union faces "a choice" between "sticking up for Ukraine" and approving the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe.
During the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Johnson's government warned the Russian Government not to invade Donbas. Johnson and Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call to work towards a "peaceful resolution". On 1 February 2022, Johnson arrived in Kyiv on a diplomatic visit. He called the presence of the Russian Armed Forces near the Russia–Ukraine border "the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades". The Kremlin denied that it wanted to attack Ukraine. On 20 February 2022, Johnson warned that Russia is planning the "biggest war in Europe since 1945" as Putin intends to invade and encircle Kyiv. On 21 February 2022, Johnson condemned Russia's diplomatic recognition of two self-proclaimed republics in Donbas.
On 24 February 2022, Johnson condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and ensured the UK joined in international sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs. He later announced the UK would phase out Russian oil by the end of 2022.
On 9 April 2022, Johnson travelled to Kyiv and met the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On 16 April 2022, Russia's Ministry for Foreign Affairs banned Johnson and a number of senior British politicians from visiting Russia, saying that Britain aimed to isolate Russia politically and supply "the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO".
Within Ukraine, Johnson is praised by many as a supporter of anti-Russian sanctions and military aid for Ukraine. On 3 May, Johnson virtually addressed the Ukrainian Parliament, becoming the first world leader to speak in Ukraine since the invasion. He pledged an extra £300m in military aid to Ukraine, praised Ukraine's resistance to Russia as its "finest hour" and said that the West had been "too slow to grasp what was actually happening" prior to Russia's invasion. In July 2022, Johnson warned that it would be a mistake to cease fire and freeze the conflict. In August 2022, Johnson blamed Vladimir Putin for the emerging global energy crisis.
== Post-premiership (2022–present) ==
After stepping down, Johnson reverted to being a backbench MP. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Johnson took part in Charles III's Accession Council.
After Liz Truss announced her resignation as Conservative Party leader on 20 October 2022, Johnson received more than the 100 MPs' nominations required to stand in the leadership election, but soon announced that he would not stand.
In May 2023, Johnson was referred to the police by the Cabinet Office regarding previously unknown potential breaches of COVID regulations between June 2020 and May 2021, to which Johnson's office issued a statement criticising the "unfounded suggestions" which "has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up".
On 9 June 2023, the publication of his 2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours led to a public feud with Sunak. Johnson supporter Nadine Dorries announced that she was resigning as an MP due to not being included as a peer on the honours list. The same day, after receiving a confidential report from a committee of the House of Commons that was looking into whether he had lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties, Johnson announced his resignation as MP. His resignation statement said he is "not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result".
On 15 June, the Commons Privileges Committee published their report, which concluded that Johnson lied to and deliberately misled the House of Commons over Partygate, misled the Committee themselves during the hearing, and acted in contempt of the Committee itself through a "campaign of abuse and intimidation". The report noted that had Johnson still been an MP, the committee would have recommended he be suspended from Parliament for 90 days. The contents of the report represented a recommendation to the House of Commons, which accepted the report by 354 votes to seven.On 16 June, Johnson was unveiled as a new columnist for the Daily Mail. The news website Politico Europe reported that Johnson would be paid a "very-high six-figure sum". Johnson reportedly informed the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments half an hour before the columnist assignment was publicly announced. The committee ruled that Johnson committed a "clear breach" of the rules since he had not sought its advice on the matter within an appropriate timeframe.
In October 2023, Johnson announced he would join the television channel GB News as a commentator and programme maker for the next general election and US presidential election.
Johnson condemned Hamas' attack on Israel, saying "there can be no moral equivalence between the terrorism of Hamas and the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces". He rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war, and criticised pro-Palestinian protests in the UK. On 5 November 2023, Johnson visited Israel to express solidarity.
In February 2024, Johnson had a private meeting with the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. In March 2024, The Times reported that Johnson is expected to campaign for the Conservatives in the next general election.
On 2 May 2024 Johnson was turned away from his polling station for the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, after forgetting to bring valid photographic identification, a requirement of the Elections Act, which Johnson introduced while in office. When he arrived he had nothing to prove his identity except the sleeve of his copy of Prospect magazine, on which his name and address had been printed. He said that when he returned a few minutes later, with his driving licence, he was then able to vote. During the 2024 general election, Johnson campaigned for the Conservatives, who lost the election in a landslide to Labour.
Johnson's memoir Unleashed was released in October 2024.
In 2025, following Keir Starmer's decision to recognise a Palestinian state, Johnson said the move was "ridiculous" and aimed for political benefit among voters as well as motivated by inner party politics. Johnson also said that a Palestinian state should not be recognised because it has no clearly defined borders and its government is unable to control its borders as well as being ruled by Hamas, which Johnson described as "fascist".
== Political positions and ideology ==
Ideologically, Johnson has been described as a "One-Nation Tory". Political scientists have described Johnson's political positions as ambiguous and contradictory, encompassing nativist, authoritarian and free market tendencies on the one hand, and one-nation liberal conservatism on the other. Some scholars have questioned Johnson's commitment to one-nation conservativism, instead characterising his ideology as flexible and populist. Purnell stated that Johnson regularly changed his opinion on political issues, commenting on what she perceived to be "an ideological emptiness beneath the staunch Tory exterior".
During his tenure as mayor, Johnson gained a reputation as "a liberal, centre-ground politician", according to Business Insider. In 2012, the political scientist Tony Travers described Johnson as "a fairly classic—that is, small-state—mildly eurosceptic Conservative" who also embraced "modern social liberalism". The Guardian stated that while mayor, Johnson blended economic and social liberalism, with The Economist saying that in doing so Johnson "transcends his Tory identity" and adopts a more libertarian perspective. According to political scientist Richard Hayton, Johnson's premiership was about Brexit, which served as a "national cause". Johnson evoked the discourse of popular sovereignty and anti-establishment populism to portray Parliament as seeking to "sabotage" Brexit, and in doing so, presented himself "as the true representative of 'the people'".
Scholars of comparative politics have drawn comparisons between Johnson and other populist leaders such as Donald Trump and Viktor Orban. Some commentators have likened Johnson's political style to Trumpism, although others have argued that Johnson's stance on matters such as social policy, immigration and free trade is liberal. Johnson biographer Gimson wrote that Johnson is economically and socially "a genuine liberal", although he retains a "Tory element" through his "love of existing institutions, and a recognition of the inevitability of hierarchy". In 2019, reacting to reports in The Sun, that Johnson had told cabinet colleagues he was "basically a Brexity Hezza", former deputy leader of the Conservative Party Michael Heseltine wrote: "I fear that any traces of liberal conservatism that still exist within the prime minister have long since been captured by the rightwing, foreigner-bashing, inward-looking view of the world that has come to characterise his fellow Brexiters."
=== Environment ===
Johnson initially expressed climate sceptical views in several newspaper columns. As Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016, Boris Johnson initiated several tree-planting programs to enhance the city's green spaces. His flagship pledge was to plant 10,000 street trees by 2012.
In 2019 and 2020 Johnson expressed support for the UK to have "net-zero" greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and spoke about increasing ambition for mitigating climate change through carbon capture and storage and a renewable energy transition. During the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Johnson called for greater efforts towards climate change mitigation, and welcomed the prospect of coal phase-out.
=== Immigration and the European Union ===
Purnell believed it was the influence of Johnson's maternal family that led to him developing "a genuine abhorrence of racial discrimination". In 2003, Johnson said, "I am not by any means an ultra-Eurosceptic. In some ways, I am a bit of a fan of the European Union. If we did not have one, we would invent something like it." As mayor, Johnson was known as a supporter of immigration. From 2009, he advocated a referendum on Britain's EU membership.
In 2018, during Brexit negotiations, Johnson called for Britain to leave the Single Market and advocated a more liberal approach to immigration than that of Prime Minister May. He stated many people believed that Britain's EU membership had led to the suppression of British wages and said the EU was intent on creating a "superstate" that would seek to rob Britain of its sovereignty. In 2019, Johnson said he would take Britain out of the EU on 31 October whether there was a trade deal in place or not. Johnson also stated his opposition to a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
On 19 August 2019, Johnson wrote a letter to the EU asking for the removal of the "backstop" accord. The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, rejected the proposal. On 26 August 2019, Johnson said that Britain would not pay £39 billion for the withdrawal agreement were the UK to leave without a deal. The European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said there would be no further negotiation unless the UK agreed to pay the entire sum.
=== Unionism and devolution ===
Johnson described himself as a "fervent and passionate unionist". He proposed building an Irish Sea Bridge, but he later scrapped this initiative. The devolved administrations have criticised the Internal Market Bill for its re-centralisation of control over commerce.
== Public image ==
Johnson has said that "humour is a utensil that you can use to sugar the pill and to get important points across". He is said to have a genuine desire to be liked. Johnson has been described as having a light-hearted and charming persona; many biographers and commentators suggest he has put significant effort into developing this version of himself. He has also been described as heavily focused on his own interests, with an often vitriolic or irresponsible way of conducting himself in private.
Johnson has been described as a divisive, controversial figure in British politics. Supporters have praised him as witty and entertaining. Johnson has been accused of lying or making misleading statements throughout his career, and has been compared to US president Donald Trump. He has been considered a figure with broad appeal outside of the usual Conservative support base. Johnson's premiership has been described by historians as the most controversial and scandal-affected since that of David Lloyd George about a century earlier.
== Personal life ==
Since Johnson was born in New York City to British parents, he held British-American dual citizenship. In 2015, he agreed to pay capital gains tax to the US tax authorities on a property that he inherited in the UK. He renounced his US citizenship the following year. Johnson has knowledge of French, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin and Ancient Greek, frequently making classical allusions in his newspaper columns and his speeches.
Sonia Purnell wrote in 2011 that Johnson was a "highly evasive figure" when it came to his personal life, who remained detached from others and who had few intimate friends. Among friends and family, Johnson is more commonly known as Al (short for his forename Alexander), rather than Boris.
In 2007, Johnson said he had smoked cannabis before he went to university. He has also said he had used cocaine. Johnson partakes in cycling, tennis and pilates, and returned to road running in 2023. He was considered obese in 2018 and overweight in 2020, and has spoken of making efforts to lose weight.
Johnson previously owned a £1.3 million buy-to-let townhouse in Camberwell, south London. According to HM Land Registry documents, he bought the four-bedroom property with his then-girlfriend Carrie Symonds in July 2019. The register of MPs' interests states that Johnson had a rental income of at least £10,000 a year. In 2023, Johnson and Symonds bought Brightwell Manor in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire.
=== Religion ===
Johnson was baptised Catholic and later confirmed in the Church of England, but has said that his faith "comes and goes" and that he is not a serious practising Christian. In 2020 his son Wilfred was baptised Catholic. Johnson and Symonds married in a Catholic ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on 29 May 2021. Since he was baptised Catholic, but his previous weddings were not conferred by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church considered them putatively invalid.
Johnson holds ancient Greek statesman Pericles as a personal hero. According to Johnson's biographer, Andrew Gimson, regarding ancient Greek and Roman polytheism: "it is clear that [Johnson] is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by the early Christians". Johnson views secular humanism positively and sees it as owing more to the classical world than to Christian thinking. In 2021 Johnson was asked if he held pre-Christian beliefs, which he denied, saying, "Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian... Christianity makes a lot of sense to me."
=== Relationships and children ===
Johnson and Allegra Mostyn-Owen married on 5 September 1987 and had no children together. On 26 April 1993, the couple was granted a divorce or annulment, which Mostyn-Owen sought due to Johnson's affair with barrister Marina Wheeler, daughter of journalist Charles Wheeler. On 8 May 1993, twelve days after the end of his marriage to Mostyn-Owen, he married Wheeler, who gave birth to their first child five weeks later. They have four children together: Lara (born 1993), Milo (born 1995), Cassia (born 1997) and Theodore (born 1999).
Between 2000 and 2004, Johnson had an affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt, resulting in a terminated pregnancy and a miscarriage. In April 2006, the News of the World alleged that he was having an affair with Times Higher Education journalist Anna Fazackerley. The pair did not comment; Fazackerley resigned after her editor questioned her about the allegations, and Johnson secured her a job as director of a higher education think tank. In 2009, he fathered a daughter, Stephanie, with arts consultant Helen Macintyre, who subsequently lost a legal battle to prevent publication of her daughter's paternity. During these proceedings, he was alleged to have fathered a second child with an affair partner while married to Wheeler; this was not confirmed, although he was persistently evasive in subsequent interviews about how many children he had. American entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri said that she had an affair with him from 2012 to 2016. In early 2018, he began an affair with Carrie Symonds, then the Conservative Party's director of communications. In September 2018, following media reports about the affair, Johnson and Wheeler confirmed that they had separated and were divorcing. Johnson was subsequently reported to be sharing a flat with Symonds.
After Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, he and Symonds moved into a flat above 11 Downing Street, the first time a prime minister had lived in Downing Street with an unmarried partner. In February 2020, his divorce from Wheeler was finalised, making him the first prime minister to get divorced while in office since 1769. Later that month, Symonds announced that she and Johnson had become engaged in late 2019 and were expecting their first child. She gave birth to their son Wilfred in April 2020. She suffered a miscarriage in early 2021. On 29 May 2021, Johnson and Symonds married at Westminster Cathedral. In September 2021, Johnson claimed in a U.S. television interview that he then had six children, the first time he had stated the number, although this has not been officially confirmed. He and Symonds subsequently had three more children, a daughter Romy (born December 2021), a son Frank (born July 2023), and a daughter Poppy (born May 2025).
=== Family and ancestors ===
Johnson is the eldest of the four children of Stanley Johnson, a former Conservative member of the European Parliament, and the painter Charlotte Johnson Wahl (née Fawcett), the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, president of the European Commission of Human Rights. His younger siblings are Rachel Johnson, a writer and journalist, Leo Johnson, a broadcaster, and Jo Johnson, ex-minister of state and former Conservative MP for Orpington, who resigned from his brother's government in September 2019 and is now a member of the House of Lords. Johnson's stepmother, Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter of Teddy Sieff, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer. Having been a member of the Conservatives between 2008 and 2011, Rachel Johnson joined the Liberal Democrats in 2017. She stood as a candidate for Change UK in the 2019 European Elections. Johnson also has two half-siblings, Julia and Maximilian, through his father's later marriage to Jennifer Kidd.
Johnson's paternal grandfather, Wilfred Johnson, was an RAF pilot in Coastal Command during the Second World War. Wilfred Johnson's father was the Ottoman Interior Minister and journalist Ali Kemal. Ali Kemal's father was a Turk while his mother was a Circassian reputedly of slave origin. His other paternal ancestry includes English, German and French; one of his German ancestors was said to be the illegitimate daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and thus a descendant of George II of Great Britain, which was later confirmed on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
Johnson's mother is the granddaughter of Elias Avery Lowe, a palaeographer and a Russian Jewish immigrant to the US, and Pennsylvania-born Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator of Thomas Mann. Referring to his varied ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a "one-man melting pot". Johnson was given the middle name "Boris" after a White Russian émigré named Boris Litwin, who was a friend of his parents. Johnson's third given name, de Pfeffel, refers to the name of his great-grandmother Marie-Louise de Pfeffel's family.
== Honours ==
Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) from Brunel University London, 2007
Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects (Hon FRIBA), 2011
Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK, 26 January 2014
Sworn in as a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on 15 July 2016, upon his appointment as foreign secretary. This gave him the honorific title "The Right Honourable" for life.
Medical Education Ig Nobel Prize, 2020 (shared with Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Alexander Lukashenko, Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow).
Honorary Citizen of Odesa, 2 July 2022
Member of the Order of Liberty (Ukraine), 24 August 2022
Honorary Citizen of Kyiv, 19 January 2023
Honorary Doctorate from Ivan Franko National University, Lviv
Foot in Mouth Award winner (2004, 2016, 2019)
== Works == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_past_life_expectancy | List of countries by past life expectancy | This is a list of countries showing past life expectancy, ranging from 1950 to 2015 in five-year periods, as estimated by the 2017 revision of the World Population Prospects database by the United Nations Population Division. Life expectancy equals the average number of years a person born in a given country is expected to live if mortality rates at each age were to remain steady in the future. The life expectancy is shown as the average of males and females.
== List of countries 1950 to 2015 (United Nations) ==
Asterisk (*) indicates "Health in LOCATION" links.
== List of countries before 1950 == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen_discography | Van Halen discography | Van Halen was an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972 by the Dutch-born American brothers Eddie Van Halen (guitar) and Alex Van Halen (drums), plus singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony. The band's discography consists of 12 studio albums, three live albums, four compilation albums, and 56 singles.
The band signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records in 1977, and in the following year released the album Van Halen. Over the next few years, the band alternated album releases, one per year between 1979 and 1982, and touring to increasing commercial and critical acclaim, becoming one of the world's most successful and influential rock bands. In 1984, Van Halen released 1984, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and had the band's sole No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Jump". After the tour promoting that album, Roth left the band due to artistic and personal tensions with Eddie.
To replace Roth, Eddie picked Sammy Hagar, formerly of Montrose and at that time a very successful solo artist. Van Halen's first album with Hagar, 1986's 5150, was the band's first No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The three studio albums that followed, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance, also topped the charts. In 1996, Hagar left Van Halen amidst similar tension with the Van Halen brothers.
Roth rejoined briefly and recorded two songs with the band for the 1996 compilation Best Of – Volume I, but Van Halen eventually settled on Gary Cherone, frontman of the then defunct Boston-based band Extreme. Cherone's sole release with the band was Van Halen III, released in 1998 to mixed reviews and diminishing sales, being the only Van Halen studio album not to get a platinum RIAA certification. Van Halen's last release for Warner was the 2004 compilation Best of Both Worlds, which featured three new songs with Hagar. In 2011, the band left the label and signed with Interscope Records.
In February 2012, Van Halen released its twelfth and final studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, featuring Roth on vocals and Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass guitar. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, and became the band's highest-charting album on the UK Albums Chart with a sixth spot.
As of 2007, Van Halen has sold 75 million albums worldwide and have thirteen No. 1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. During the 1980s, they, along with the band Heart, had more Billboard Hot 100 hits, fifteen, than any other hard rock or heavy metal band. According to the RIAA, Van Halen is the 19th best-selling music group/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the US, and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums (Van Halen and 1984) sell more than ten million copies in the US.
== Albums ==
=== Studio albums ===
=== Live albums ===
=== Compilation albums ===
=== Box sets ===
== Singles ==
Notes
1^ UK and NL position for 1980 re-release
A^ released in Japan
B^ released in some European territories
C^ released in Europe and Japan
D^ released in the Netherlands
== Videography ==
=== Video albums ===
=== Music videos === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%9321_NBA_season | 2020–21 NBA season | The 2020–21 NBA season was the 75th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), though the 75th anniversary was not celebrated until the following season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the regular season was reduced to 72 games for each team, and began on December 22, 2020. The season started just 72 days after the completion of the 2020 NBA Finals, the shortest off-season in league history. The 2021 NBA All-Star Game was played on March 7, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and was won by Team LeBron, 170–150. For the first time, the NBA staged a play-in tournament for teams ranked 7th through 10th in each conference from May 18 to 21. The playoffs then ran under the standard 16-team playoff format from May 22 to July 20, 2021. Due to COVID-19 cross-border restrictions imposed by the Canadian government, the Toronto Raptors played their 2020–21 home games at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
== Transactions ==
=== Retirement ===
On September 8, 2020, Marvin Williams announced his retirement from the NBA. Williams played for four teams during his 15-year NBA career.
On September 14, 2020, Leandro Barbosa announced his retirement from the NBA. Barbosa played 14 seasons in the NBA, winning one championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015.
On October 24, 2020, Kevin Séraphin announced his retirement from the NBA. Séraphin played for three teams during his seven-year NBA career.
On November 16, 2020, Corey Brewer announced his retirement from the NBA. Brewer played for 12 years in the NBA for eight teams, winning one championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
On November 18, 2020, Dorell Wright announced his retirement from the NBA. Wright played for four teams during his 11-year NBA career, winning one championship with the Miami Heat in 2006.
On November 25, 2020, Aaron Brooks announced his retirement from the NBA. Brooks played for seven teams during his 13-year NBA career.
On November 30, 2020, Andrew Bogut announced his retirement from the NBA. Bogut played for five teams during his 14-year NBA career, winning one championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015.
On November 30, 2020, Evan Turner announced his retirement from the NBA. Turner played 10 seasons for five teams during his time in the NBA.
On February 4, 2021, Lucas Nogueira announced his retirement from the NBA. Nogueira played for the Toronto Raptors for his entire four-year NBA career.
On March 1, 2021, Joakim Noah announced his retirement from the NBA. Noah played for four teams during his 13-year NBA career. He was the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year, and a two-time All-Star.
On March 31, 2021, Thabo Sefolosha announced his retirement from the NBA. Sefolosha played for five teams during his 14-year NBA career.
On April 15, 2021, LaMarcus Aldridge announced his retirement from the NBA as a result of heart issues and an irregular heartbeat after games. Aldridge played for three teams during his 15-year NBA career, and was a seven-time All-Star.
On May 19, 2021, Jeremy Lin announced his retirement from the NBA. Lin played for eight teams during his nine-year NBA career, winning one championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.
=== Free agency ===
Free agency negotiations were scheduled to begin on October 18, 2020, but that date was delayed. On November 9, it was announced that free agency would begin on November 20 at 6 p.m. ET, with signings permitted starting at 12 p.m. ET on November 22.
=== Coaching changes ===
==== Off-season ====
On July 30, 2020, the New York Knicks hired Tom Thibodeau as their new head coach.
On August 14, 2020, the Chicago Bulls fired head coach Jim Boylen after two seasons.
On August 15, 2020, the New Orleans Pelicans fired head coach Alvin Gentry after five seasons with the team.
On August 24, 2020, the Philadelphia 76ers fired head coach Brett Brown after seven seasons with the team.
On August 26, 2020, the Indiana Pacers fired head coach Nate McMillan after four seasons with the team.
On September 3, 2020, the Brooklyn Nets hired Steve Nash as their new head coach.
On September 8, 2020, the Oklahoma City Thunder and head coach Billy Donovan mutually agreed to part ways after five seasons.
On September 13, 2020, Mike D'Antoni informed the Houston Rockets that he would not return as head coach after coaching the team for four seasons.
On September 22, 2020, the Chicago Bulls hired Billy Donovan as their new head coach.
On September 28, 2020, the Los Angeles Clippers and head coach Doc Rivers mutually agreed to part ways after seven seasons with the team.
On October 3, 2020, the Philadelphia 76ers hired Doc Rivers as their new head coach.
On October 20, 2020, the Indiana Pacers hired Nate Bjorkgren as their new head coach.
On October 20, 2020, the Los Angeles Clippers promoted Tyronn Lue as their new head coach.
On October 22, 2020, the New Orleans Pelicans hired Stan Van Gundy as their new head coach.
On October 30, 2020, the Houston Rockets hired Stephen Silas as their new head coach.
On November 11, 2020, the Oklahoma City Thunder promoted Mark Daigneault as their new head coach.
==== In-season ====
On February 21, 2021, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired head coach Ryan Saunders after three seasons with the team.
On February 22, 2021, the Minnesota Timberwolves hired Chris Finch as their new head coach.
On March 1, 2021, the Atlanta Hawks fired head coach Lloyd Pierce after two seasons with the team, and named Nate McMillan as interim head coach.
== Preseason ==
The COVID-19 pandemic in North America, which pushed the conclusion of the previous 2019–20 season and playoffs into the fall, had delayed the start date of training camp to November 10, 2020. The preseason began on December 11 and ended on December 19.
== Regular season ==
The start of the 2020–21 regular season was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA initially set a target date of December 1, 2020, to start the regular season. However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver suggested further delaying the season until at least January because local health orders at each NBA city would limit fan attendance. The NBA receives 40 percent of its revenue from attendance, and thus delaying the season until it was safer to let more fans into the arenas would ease the financial pain. The NBA also contemplated organizing the schedule such that teams would have less travel, with back-to-back games in the same cities against the same opponent. National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts suggested that the season might eventually have to begin within a "bubble" environment, similar to the 2020 playoffs.
On October 13, the NBA delayed the targeted start date of the regular season from December 2020 to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18, 2021. Later in October, Sports Illustrated reported that the NBA was targeting December 22, 2020, as the first day of the season. On November 5, 2020, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) tentatively approved a 72-game regular season that began on December 22, 2020. The season featured a condensed schedule so that the NBA Finals could conclude by July 22, allowing NBA players to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics; the Olympics were postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
On November 17, the NBA announced that the 72-game regular season would run from December 22 through May 16. Each team would play three games against each opponent from its own conference and two games against each interconference opponent. The season would include a six-day All-Star break from March 5 to 10. While the All-Star Game (which was originally scheduled for Indianapolis) was initially considered unlikely, the NBA announced in February that the 2021 NBA All-Star Game would be held in Atlanta on March 7, 2021. The schedule was released in two parts; the first half was released in early December, while the second half was released in the latter part of the first half.
It was the latest a season had started, and with the fewest games per team, since the 2011–12 season. That season, each team played only 66 games starting on Christmas Day; this was due to the aftermath of the 2011 NBA lockout.
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
=== By conference ===
Notes
z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
y – Clinched division title
x – Clinched playoff spot
* – Division leader
pi - Clinched play-in spot
=== Postponed games due to COVID-19 ===
December 23: Oklahoma City vs. Houston – At least three Houston players tested positive or inconclusive, four other players were quarantined after contact tracing, and James Harden was unavailable after violating health and safety protocols.
January 10: Miami vs. Boston – Ongoing contact tracing with Miami caused Miami to not have the required minimum of eight players available for the game.
January 11: New Orleans vs. Dallas
January 12: Boston vs. Chicago
January 13:
Orlando vs. Boston – Due to testing and contact tracing, Boston did not have the required minimum of eight players available for the game.
Utah vs. Washington – Washington did not have the required minimum of eight players available for the game.
Atlanta vs. Phoenix – Phoenix did not have the required minimum of eight players available.
January 15:
Golden State vs. Phoenix – Phoenix continued to not have the required minimum of eight players available due to testing and contact tracing.
Washington vs. Detroit – Washington continued to not have the required minimum of eight players available.
Memphis vs. Minnesota – Minnesota did not have the required minimum of eight players.
January 16: Indiana vs. Phoenix – Phoenix still did not have enough available players.
January 17:
Cleveland vs. Washington – Washington still did not have enough available players.
Philadelphia vs. Oklahoma City – Philadelphia did not have enough available players due to ongoing contact tracing.
January 18: Cleveland vs. Washington – Washington continued to not have enough players.
January 20:
Washington vs. Charlotte – Washington continued to not have enough players.
Memphis vs. Portland – Memphis had an outbreak.
January 22:
Washington vs. Milwaukee – Washington's sixth consecutive postponed game.
Memphis vs. Portland – Memphis did not have enough available players due to ongoing contact tracing.
January 24: Sacramento vs. Memphis – Memphis did not have enough available players due to ongoing contact tracing.
January 25:
Sacramento vs. Memphis – Memphis did not have enough available players due to ongoing contact tracing.
San Antonio vs. New Orleans – Neither team had enough available players due to ongoing contact tracing.
January 27: Chicago vs. Memphis – Memphis did not have enough available players due to ongoing contact tracing.
February 1: Detroit vs. Denver – Detroit did not have enough players due to ongoing contact tracing.
February 7: Portland vs. Charlotte – This game was moved to the second half of the season, allowing the Washington vs. Charlotte game that was originally scheduled on January 20 to be rescheduled on this day instead.
February 16: San Antonio vs. Detroit – San Antonio did not have enough players due to ongoing contact tracing.
February 17:
San Antonio vs. Cleveland – San Antonio continued to not have enough players due to ongoing contact tracing.
Chicago vs. Charlotte – Charlotte did not have enough players due to ongoing contact tracing.
February 19: Detroit vs. Charlotte – Charlotte continued to be under COVID-19 protocol.
February 20: San Antonio vs. New York – San Antonio continued to be under COVID-19 protocol.
February 22: San Antonio vs. Indiana – San Antonio continued to be under COVID-19 protocol.
February 28: Chicago vs. Toronto – Toronto had positive COVID-19 test results.
=== Postponed games due to other reasons ===
February 17: Detroit vs. Dallas – Game postponed due to winter storm in Texas.
February 19: Dallas vs. Houston – Game postponed due to winter storm in Texas.
February 20: Indiana vs. Houston – Game postponed due to winter storm in Texas.
April 12: Brooklyn vs. Minnesota – Game postponed due to feared unrest in response to the killing of Daunte Wright in nearby Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
== All-Star Weekend ==
The 2021 NBA All-Star Game was played on March 7, 2021. Teams were captained by LeBron James and Kevin Durant, and Team LeBron won the game 170–150.
== Play-in tournament ==
The NBA staged a play-in tournament for teams ranked 7th through 10th in each conference after regular season, played from May 18 to 21, to determine in each conference 7th and 8th seeded teams making playoffs. To this end in each conference: 1) The 7th-place team hosted the 8th place team with the winner clinching the 7th seed in the playoffs. 2) The 9th-place team hosted the 10th-place team with the loser being eliminated from playoff contention. 3) The 7th-vs.-8th-place game's loser then hosted the 9th-vs.-10th-place game's winner, with the winner clinching the 8th seed and the loser being eliminated.
=== Eastern Conference Play-in ===
Bold Game winner
Italic Team with home-court advantage
=== Western Conference Play-in ===
Bold Game winner
Italic Team with home-court advantage
== Playoffs ==
The playoffs began on May 22 and operated under the standard 16-team playoff format, with four rounds of best-of-seven series. The 2021 NBA Finals began on July 6 and concluded on July 20.
=== Bracket ===
== Statistics ==
=== Individual statistic leaders ===
=== Individual game highs ===
=== Team statistic leaders ===
== Awards ==
=== Yearly awards ===
=== Players of the Week ===
The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week.
=== Players of the Month ===
The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month.
=== Rookies of the Month ===
The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month.
=== Coaches of the Month ===
The following coaches were named the Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month.
== Uniforms ==
On July 21, 2020, the NBA and Nike announced that the "Statement Edition" uniforms would switch to the Air Jordan label.
== Arenas ==
The Denver Nuggets' home arena, formerly known as the Pepsi Center, was renamed Ball Arena on October 22, 2020.
The Phoenix Suns' home arena, formerly known as Talking Stick Resort Arena, was renamed Footprint Center (previously Phoenix Suns Arena) after the naming rights deal expired on November 6, 2020, to July 16, 2021.
=== Temporary relocation of the Toronto Raptors to Tampa ===
As the NBA's plans for the 2020–21 season began to take shape, the Toronto Raptors were denied permission to play home games in Toronto as the Canadian federal government ruled that repeated cross-border trips by the Raptors and their opponents would be a major health risk due to the different levels of COVID-19 cases in the United States and Canada. This is similar to what happened to the Raptors' Major League Baseball counterpart, the Toronto Blue Jays, who were forced to play their 2020 home games in Buffalo and would later play their 2021 home games at their spring training home of Dunedin, Florida.
After looking at several U.S. cities, the Raptors announced on November 20, 2020, that they would play their home games at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida during the 2020–21 season. This marked the first time since the then-named New Orleans Hornets in 2007 that an NBA team was temporarily displaced from their home city. The team, dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, had played in Oklahoma City for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.
=== COVID-19 restrictions ===
By July 21, 2021, all teams except the Oklahoma City Thunder allowed spectators to attend home games. Only seven teams had played all of their games with spectators since the start of the season.
On February 10, 2021, Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would allow large sports venues to host spectators at 10% of their capacity beginning February 23, 2021, affecting the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks. All spectators must present proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of the event, and may also be required to submit to a rapid test if their PCR test was within more than 48 hours of the event. In late March, Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden announced that the testing requirement would be waived for spectators who are fully vaccinated (second dose received no fewer than 14 days prior to the event).
On April 2, Governor of California Gavin Newsom announced that the state will begin allowing indoor event and sports venues to resume operations on April 15. In regions under the "Substantial" (red) tier, capacity is capped at 20%, and all attendees are required to provide proof of a recent negative test or that they are fully vaccinated. In the "Moderate" (orange) tier, capacity is capped at 10%, but can be raised to 35% if all attendees are required to provide proof of a recent negative test, or that they are fully vaccinated.
== Media ==
This was the fifth year of a nine-year deal with ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV.
To reduce on-site staff, ESPN and TNT leverage the home team's rightsholder as a host broadcaster for some of their games. They send a neutral "world feed" and other camera feeds to the network, which then added commentary and surrounding coverage. ESPN and TNT are also deploying additional cameras specific to their broadcasts, and ESPN may provide a supplemental on-site presence if the local broadcaster does not have enough capacity to support the host model. ESPN stated that some (roughly half) of their games, particularly marquee games exclusive to ESPN and ABC, would be produced on-site with an existing hybrid model (where some producers and graphics operators work from ESPN's studios in Bristol, Connecticut). TNT also planned to begin doing some games on-site beginning with Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
On December 26, 2020, it was announced that Fox Sports Networks had acquired rights to simulcast 36 Toronto Raptors games locally in the Tampa Bay area through at least the first half of the season. All of the games were carried via the Fox Sports Go app, with selected games to also air on television via Fox Sports Sun (15) and Fox Sports Florida (2).
On March 31, 2021, the Fox Sports Networks rebranded as Bally Sports, as part of an agreement between majority-owner Sinclair Broadcast Group and casino operator Bally's Corporation.
== Notable occurrences ==
On May 13, 2020, the NBA announced that Spalding's partnership with the league as official game ball supplier would end after this season. The league signed an agreement with Wilson for the latter to return as the NBA's official ball brand that would take effect in the 2021–22 season. Spalding was the official supplier of game balls since the start of the 1983–84 season.
On December 26, 2020, Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards became the fourth player to record triple-doubles in the first two games of a season. On December 29, he became the second player after Oscar Robertson to record triple-doubles in their first three games of a season.
On December 27, 2020, the Dallas Mavericks recorded the largest-ever halftime lead in a game, with a 50-point advantage over the Los Angeles Clippers (77–27).
On December 27, 2020, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors became the third player ever to reach 2,500 career 3-pointers.
On December 29, 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks set a new record for most three-point field goals made in a game with 29 against the Miami Heat, breaking the previous record of 27 set by the Houston Rockets on April 7, 2019.
On December 30, 2020, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers became the first player to reach 1,000 consecutive regular season games with at least 10 points.
On January 1, 2021, Carmelo Anthony of the Portland Trail Blazers passed Tim Duncan for 14th on the NBA all-time scoring list.
On January 6, 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons took a knee for their first possessions in protest to the announcement that criminal charges would not be filed against police officers in the Jacob Blake shooting. The Bucks held the ball for seven seconds in reference to Blake's seven gunshots. Various teams linked arms at center court in unison during the anthem in response to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.
On January 7, 2021, Duncan Robinson of the Miami Heat became the fastest player to reach 300 career three-pointers. He made it in a span of only 95 games, surpassing both Luka Dončić's and Damian Lillard's previous record within 117 games.
On January 8, 2021, the Toronto Raptors set a new franchise record for points in a single regular season game, scoring 144 points against the Sacramento Kings on the road.
On January 9, 2021, LaMelo Ball posted a triple-double for the Charlotte Hornets against the Atlanta Hawks, becoming the youngest player ever to record a triple-double, at the age of 19 years and 140 days. He surpassed the previous record held by Markelle Fultz, who recorded a triple-double aged 19 years and 317 days.
On January 16, 2021, James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets posted a triple-double against the Orlando Magic, becoming the seventh player to record a triple-double during his team debut.
On January 20, 2021, Clint Capela of the Atlanta Hawks became the first player since Shaquille O'Neal in 2004 to record 25 points, 25 rebounds and 5 blocks in a single game, doing so against the Detroit Pistons.
On January 20, 2021, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz became the fastest player to reach 600 three-pointers. He did it in just 240 games, beating the previous record of 244 games set by Buddy Hield in 2019.
On January 23, 2021, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors passed Reggie Miller for second place on the NBA all-time three-point list.
On January 29, 2021, Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards passed Maurice Cheeks for 13th place on the NBA all-time assist list.
On January 29, 2021, Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks became the fastest player to reach 400 career three-pointers doing it in 159 games, surpassing the previous total of 163 games set by Damian Lillard.
On February 2, 2021, Carmelo Anthony of the Portland Trail Blazers passed Dominique Wilkins for 13th on the NBA all-time scoring list.
On February 4, 2021, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers passed Wilt Chamberlain for third place on the NBA all-time field goal list.
On February 6, 2021, Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets became the first center since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 to record 50 points and 10 assists.
On February 9, 2021, Carmelo Anthony of the Portland Trail Blazers passed Oscar Robertson for 12th on the NBA all-time scoring list.
On February 19, 2021, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers became the third player in NBA history to reach 35,000 career points joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.
On February 19, 2021, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat, in a game against the Sacramento Kings, became the first pair of teammates to each record a triple-double on multiple occasions. The duo first accomplished this feat on December 10, 2019, in a game against the Atlanta Hawks.
On February 19, 2021, Jamal Murray had the most points (50) without a free throw attempted.
On February 20, 2021, Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns passed Oscar Robertson for sixth place on the NBA all-time assist list.
On February 23, 2021, the Denver Nuggets broke the record for fewest turnovers (1) by a team in a game.
On March 3, 2021, T. J. McConnell of the Indiana Pacers set several records. The first record was most steals in a half with 9. He also became the first player since Mookie Blaylock to record a triple-double with steals and the sixth player overall. He did this all off the bench which is also an NBA record.
On March 3, 2021, Mason Plumlee and Dennis Smith Jr. of the Detroit Pistons became the 13th time a pair of teammates each had a triple-double in a game.
On March 11, 2021, Duncan Robinson of the Miami Heat became the fastest player to record 400 made career three-pointers, doing it in a span of 125 games, surpassing previous record set by Trae Young at 159 games earlier on January 29, 2021. Robinson made this feat by scoring only nine points, all in three-pointers in a game won against the Orlando Magic. Currently, Robinson holds the record of being the fastest player ever to reach three three-pointers-made milestones—200 in 69 games, 300 in 95 games, and now 400 in 125 games.
On March 13, 2021, Carmelo Anthony of the Portland Trail Blazers passed Hakeem Olajuwon for 11th place on the NBA all-time scoring list.
On March 27, 2021, Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs became the third coach in NBA history to reach 1,300 career wins with a 120–104 win against the Chicago Bulls.
On March 29, 2021, Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards became the third player to record a 30–10–20 triple-double, joining Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. He also became the first player to record a triple-double with 35 points and 20 assists, with his 35 points, 21 assists and 14 rebounds.
On April 3, 2021, the Utah Jazz had the most three-point field goals made (18) by a team in a half.
On April 10, 2021, the Oklahoma City Thunder had the youngest starting lineup in NBA history with an average age of 20 years, 8 months and 6 days.
On April 12, 2021, Stephen Curry passed Wilt Chamberlain as the Golden State Warriors' all-time scoring leader.
On April 30, the Boston Celtics overcame a 32-point deficit and beat the San Antonio Spurs, which was the third-biggest comeback ever. They were led by Jayson Tatum who had 60 points.
On May 1, 2021, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 152–95. The 57-point victory is the largest road win in NBA history.
On May 1, 2021, Duncan Robinson of the Miami Heat passed Luka Dončić as the fastest player to reach 500 three-pointers. He made this feat in 152 games, in a 124–107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, 35 games earlier than Dončić's record of within 187 games.
On May 3, 2021, Carmelo Anthony of the Portland Trail Blazers passed Elvin Hayes for 10th place on the NBA all-time scoring list.
On May 3, 2021, Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards clinched a fourth season averaging a triple-double. He also recorded the third-ever 20-rebound, 20-assist game, as well as the third-ever 10–20–20 game, with 14 points, 21 rebounds and 24 assists against the Indiana Pacers. This was his second time reaching each feat. He also tied the record for most assists (24) in a triple-double.
On May 8, 2021, Russell Westbrook of the Washington Wizards tied Oscar Robertson for most career triple-doubles, with a career total of 181. Two days later on May 10, Westbrook passed Robertson, with a career total of 182.
On June 1, 2021, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers broke an NBA playoff record with 12 made three-pointers, including 2 threes to force overtime and double-overtime as part of a 55-point performance during a 147–140 loss to the Denver Nuggets in game 5 of the first round.
On June 8, 2021, Nikola Jokić became the first Denver Nuggets player, the first Serbian native, and the lowest-drafted player to be named NBA MVP; he is the first center since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 to win NBA MVP. Jokić and his fellow Serbian countryman Vasilije Micić (Anadolu Efes, Turkey) became the first-ever pair of players from the same country to be awarded both NBA MVP and EuroLeague MVP honors in the same season.
Mitchell Robinson set the record for the highest two-point field goal percentage in a season at 74.19%.
Utah Jazz set the record for the most three-point field goals made per game (16.7) in a season.
Los Angeles Clippers set the record for the highest free-throw percentage averaged (83.9%) in a season.
Portland Trail Blazers set the record for the lowest average turnovers per game (11.1) in a season. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Cummings | Stephen Cummings | Stephen Donald Cummings (born 13 September 1954) is an Australian rock singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from 1976 to 1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success. He has written two novels, Wonderboy (1996) and Stay Away from Lightning Girl (1999), and a memoir, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy (2009). In 2014 a documentary film, Don't Throw Stones, based on his memoir premiered as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.
== Early years ==
Stephen Cummings was born in 1954 in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of Camberwell. He was the vocalist for Ewe and the Merinos.
== Career ==
=== The Pelaco Brothers ===
The Pelaco Brothers formed in 1974, with Cummings on vocals, Joe Camilleri on saxophone and vocals, Peter Lillie on guitar and vocals, Johnny Topper on bass guitar, Karl Wolfe on drums and Chris Worrall on guitar. They played "rock-a-billy, country swing and R&B which recalled American outfits like Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen and Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. Yet, the band's delivery presented a fiercely Australian outlook". Only existing for 18 months, they later included Ed Bates on guitar and Peter Martin on slide guitar, their posthumous releases were The Notorious Pelaco Brothers Show a live six-track Extended Play on the Ralph imprint (a completely different entity from the San Francisco label) in June 1977 and three studio tracks for a various artists release, The Autodrifters and The Relaxed Mechanics Meet The Fabulous Nudes and The Pelaco Bros, in June 1978 on Missing Link Records. The Pelaco Brothers disbanded in late 1975. Camilleri went on to form Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Lillie formed Relaxed Mechanics and Topper formed the Fabulous Nudes. Lillie, Topper and Wolfe were all in the Autodrifters. Meanwhile, Steve Cummings and Bates formed the Sports in 1976
=== The Sports ===
The Sports were a new wave band formed in 1976 by Cummings and former Pelaco Brothers bandmate Ed Bates, with Robert Glover (former Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven on piano (former the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band) with Paul Hitchins on drums. Their early sets contained covers of Chuck Berry, Billy Emerson, Don Covay, Company Caine and Graham Parker. Original songs, mostly written by Cummings and Bates, completed their sets. The Sports' debut recording was the EP Fair Game in early 1977. A friend in London posted the record to New Musical Express which declared it "Record Of The Week". Andrew Pendlebury (ex-Myriad) joined on guitar in August 1977 and assisted Cummings with songwriting. Cummings brought in Martin Armiger on guitar, vocals and songwriting to replace Bates in August 1978. The Sports had top 30 hits on the Australian Kent Music Report singles charts with "Don't Throw Stones" (1979), "Strangers on a Train" (1980) and "How Come" (1981); and top 20 albums with Don't Throw Stones (#9, 1979), Suddenly (No. 13, 1980) and Sondra (1981). "Who Listens to the Radio?", co-written by Cummings and Pendlebury, peaked at No. 35 on the Australian singles charts in 1978, and was their only hit on the United States Billboard pop singles chart, peaking at No. 45 in November 1979.
=== Solo career ===
After the Sports had disbanded in late 1981, Cummings formed a "part-time" band, A Ring of Truth, with Robert Glover (also the Sports), Peter Luscombe (Tinsley Waterhouse), Wilbur Wilde (Ol '55, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons) and Les Stackpool (In-Focus). Stackpool was soon replaced by Peter Laffy (Mondo Rock). According to Tharunka's Diane Livesey, "[they were Cummings] way of relieving boredom for a while and inflicting 'the modern face of cabaret' upon an unsuspecting public ... The only way to describe them is 'truly wonderful'." By late March 1982, Cummings had left that group. He spent the rest of 1982 co-writing tracks with Ian Stephen and waiting out his contract. He released his debut solo single, "We all Make Mistakes" on Phantom Records, in December 1982 and followed with "Stuck on Love" in May 1983. Cummings' debut album, Senso, released by Regular Records in August 1984, was produced by former bandmate Martin Armiger, and recorded with session musicians including Armiger, Joe Camilleri and Pendlebury from his earlier bands. Senso spawned two dance-pop singles, "Gymnasium" in July 1984 and "Another Kick in the Head" in October.
His second studio album, This Wonderful Life, was released in August 1986. It was a more personal and less busy recording which was produced by Cummings and provided two singles, "Speak with Frankness" and "Love is Crucial". In September 1987, Cummings dueted with Pendlebury on "She Set Fire to the House". before releasing his third album, Lovetown in January 1988. Cummings formed Stephen Cummings' Lovetown (aka Stephen Cummings and Lovetown) with Rebecca Barnard on backing vocals, Mick Girasole (also in the Black Sorrows alongside Camilleri) on bass guitar, Peter Luscombe (also the Black Sorrows) on drums, Shane O'Mara on guitar and Pendlebury on guitar. It "was a very subtle, alluring, personal and mostly acoustic album ... full of conversational, narrative vignettes". The album, produced by Mark Woods and Cummings, provided two further singles, "Some Prayers Are Answered" in February and "My Willingness" in May.
Cummings changed labels to True Tone Records for his next album, A New Kind of Blue, which was released in March 1989 and produced by Cummings and O'Mara. It spawned three singles, "A Life is a Life" in October 1988, "Your House is Falling" in February 1989 and "When the Day is Done" in July. The album provided Cummings with his only Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Award, winning "Best Adult Contemporary Album" in 1990.
For his fifth solo album, Good Humour, Cummings returned to his earlier dance and funk sound from his Senso album, using a backing band of Barnard, O'Mara and Nick Smith (ex-Kevins) on backing vocals, with additional session musicians from Sydney jazz outfit The Necks, and Robert Goodge (I'm Talking) on guitar, drum programming and co-production (for two tracks). The album, produced by Cummings and O'Mara, peaked at No. 40 on the ARIA Album Charts in March 1991. "Hell (You've Put Me Through)", which peaked at No. 33 after its November 1990 release, was followed by a cover of Sly Stone's "Family Affair" and then "Stand Up (Love is the Greatest)". Cummings has supplemented his income by writing advertising jingles: he co-wrote Medibank Private's theme "I Feel Better Now", with Goodge.
Cummings' sixth studio album, Unguided Tour, produced by Cummings and O'Mara for Polygram Records, was issued in August 1992 and provided three singles. The album peaked at number 76 on the ARIA Charts. In 1993, Cummings' first compilation album Rollercoaster was released.
In August 1994, Cummings' seventh solo album Falling Swinger was released. The single, "September 13" appeared in July and is titled for Cummings' birthday, which he shares with Steve Kilbey. Later in 1994, the Toni Childs and Cummings duet, "Fell from a Great Height", was released as a single. It later appeared on Childs' compilation album, The Very Best of Toni Childs in 1996.
Steve Kilbey also produced Cummings' eighth studio album Escapist, released in September 1996, which contained "countrified ballad "Everything Breaks Your Heart" to the psychedelic-tinged mantra "Sometimes". Also in 1996, Cummings published his first novel, Wonderboy, which deals with relationships especially those between a father and son.
On 14 November 1998, Cummings and, a briefly reformed, The Sports performed at the Mushroom Records 25th anniversary concert. His next solo album, Spiritual Bum, had Cummings as record producer and was issued in June 1999. He returned to an acoustic, melancholic sound. Cummings also had his second novel, Stay Away from Lightning Girl, published in 1999, which described an ageing musician and his band. In 2001, he released Skeleton Key followed by Firecracker in 2003, Close Ups in 2004, Love-O-Meter in 2005, Space Travel in 2007, and Happiest Man Alive in 2008. On 1 May 2009, his memoir, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy was printed, which his publishers described as a series of anecdotes from his childhood through thirty years of the music business and his family relationships. In October 2010, his 1988 album Lovetown was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.
In 2019, Cummings released his 20th studio album, Prisoner of Love. A four disc anthology album, titled A Life is a Life, was also released in 2019.
In February 2023, Cummings announced the forthcoming release of 100 Years from Now for 5 May 2023.
== Personal life ==
In March 2020, Cummings had a stroke, but partially recovered and began releasing work in 2023.
== Media reviews ==
Alongside Nick Cave and Tim Rogers, I would nominate Stephen Cummings. He is easily one of our great storytellers, capable of creating lives in miniature
Apart from Paul Kelly, no other Australian solo artist has managed to sustain a recording and performing career at such a high level of artistry for as long as Stephen Cummings
Debonair, romantic and sensitive, Cummings owns a voice that allows vulnerable yearning qualities as much space as an authoritative voice of experience.
In a year rich in fine albums from singer-songwriters as diverse as Bob Dylan, Ron Sexsmith and Lucinda Williams, this is one of the finest |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_Wailer | Bunny Wailer | Neville O'Riley Livingston (10 April 1947 – 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music. He was also known as Jah B, Bunny O'Riley, and Bunny Livingston.
== Early life and family ==
Wailer was born Neville O'Riley Livingston on 10 April 1947 in Kingston. He spent his earliest years in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish. It was there that he first met Bob Marley, and the two young boys befriended each other quickly. The boys both came from single-parent families; Livingston was brought up by his father, Marley by his mother. Later, Wailer's father Thaddeus "Thaddy Shut" Livingston lived with Marley's mother Cedella Booker in Trenchtown and had a daughter with her named Pearl Livingston. Peter Tosh had a son, Andrew Tosh, with Wailer's sister Shirley, making Andrew his nephew.
== The Wailers ==
Wailer had originally gone to audition for Leslie Kong at Beverley's Records in 1962, around the same time his step-brother Bob Marley was cutting "Judge Not". Wailer had intended to sing his first composition, "Pass It On", which at the time was more ska-oriented. However, Wailer was late getting out of school and missed his audition. A few months later, in 1963, he formed "The Wailing Wailers" with Marley and friend Peter Tosh, and the short-term members Junior Braithwaite and Beverley Kelso. Wailer tended to sing lead vocals less often than Marley and Tosh in the early years, but when Marley left Jamaica in 1966 for Delaware in the US, and was briefly replaced by Constantine "Vision" Walker, Wailer began to record and sing lead vocals on some of his own compositions, such as "Who Feels It Knows It", "I Stand Predominate", and "Sunday Morning". Wailer's style of music was influenced by gospel music and the soul singer Curtis Mayfield. In 1967, he recorded "This Train", based on a gospel standard, for the first time, at Studio One.
Wailer was arrested on charges of possession of cannabis in June 1967 and served a 14-month prison sentence. Around this time he, Bob Marley, and Peter Tosh signed an exclusive recording agreement with Danny Sim's JAD Records and an exclusive publishing agreement with Sim's music publishing company Cayman Music.
As the Wailers regularly changed producers in the late 1960s, Wailer continued to contribute songs to the group's repertoire. The music critic Kwame Dawes says that Wailer's song lyrics were carefully crafted and literary in style, and he remained a key part of the group's distinctive harmonies. Wailer sang lead on such songs as "Dreamland" (a cover of El Tempos' "My Dream Island", which soon became his signature song) "Riding High", "Brainwashing", and in the bridge of the Wailers' song, "Keep On Moving" (sung in the style of Curtis Mayfield of the Impressions), produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry. In 1971, the Wailers recorded Bunny Wailer's song "Pass It On", which he said he wrote in 1962; it was released as a dubplate mix on JAD's "Original Cuts" compilation. This version of the song features different lyrics and music in the verses to the later versions of "Pass It On" – Wailer would later reuse these in "Innocent Blood". By 1973, each of the three founding Wailers operated his own label, Marley with Tuff Gong, Tosh with H.I.M. Intel Diplo, and Bunny Wailer with Solomonic. He sang lead vocals on "Reincarnated Souls", the B-side of the Wailers first Island single of the new era, and on two tracks on the Wailers last trio LP, "Burnin'": "Pass it On" and "Hallelujah Time". By now he was recording singles in his own right, cutting "Searching For Love", "Life Line", "Trod On", "Arab Oil Weapon", and "Pass It On" (a new recording of the Wailers song) for his own label.
Bunny Wailer toured with the Wailers in England and the United States, but soon became reluctant to leave Jamaica. He and Tosh were more marginalised in the group as the Wailers attained international success, and attention was increasingly focused on Marley. Wailer subsequently left the Wailers in 1973 and adopted the name "Bunny" in pursuit of a solo career after balking when Chris Blackwell wanted the Wailers to tour freak clubs in the United States, stating that it was against his Rastafari principles. Before leaving the Wailers, Wailer had become more focused on his spiritual faith. He identified with the Rastafari movement, as did the other Wailers. He also composed much of his own material as well as re-recording a number of cuts from the Wailers' catalogue. Wailer recorded primarily in the roots style, in keeping with his often political and spiritual messages; his album Blackheart Man was well received. According to the journalist Peter Mason, writing in the Guardian newspaper, Blackheart Man "is widely felt to be one of reggae's highest peaks".
== Solo career ==
After leaving the Wailers, Wailer experimented with disco on his album Hook Line & Sinker, while Sings the Wailers reworks many of The Wailers songs with the backing of Jamaican session musicians, Sly and Robbie. He also had success recording in the typically apolitical, more pop, dancehall style.
During this musical period, one of the highlights of Bunny Wailer's career was composing the hit single "Electric Boogie" in 1982 for Marcia Griffiths. This song led to the dance craze "Electric Slide" in 1986, which gained popularity in Washington D.C. and other parts of the world. Bunny Wailer also recorded versions of the song for himself, although with less success compared to Griffiths' versions.
Wailer's music had dancehall and rockers influences, best exemplified by the album Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers on which he reinterpreted some of the Wailers material as a solo roots singer with roots reggae-based backing by Sly and Robbie. The album, produced by Bunny Wailer, was recorded at Harry J Studio. Some of these tracks are reworked classic Wailers tracks such as "Dreamland", a cover of El Tempos' "My Dream Island" with slightly reworked lyrics that became Bunny's signature song. This was recorded in 1966 by Clement Coxsone Dodd, and in 1972 with Lee "Scratch" Perry; it was released as a 7" in 1971 with a U-Roy version on the B-side. Another classic is "Dancing Shoes", first recorded in the mid-1960s as a driving ska/soul classic with Bunny Wailer on lead vocals.
Wailer won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album three times; in 1991 for the album Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley, in 1995 for Crucial! Roots Classics, and in 1997 for Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley's 50th Anniversary. He was also featured on the album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, which won the Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album, and showcased many notable musicians including; Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Trey Anastasio, Gwen Stefani / No Doubt, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Manu Chao, The Roots, Ryan Adams, Keith Richards, Toots Hibbert, Paul Douglas, Jackie Jackson, Ken Boothe, and The Skatalites. Wailer's catalogue is now under the curation of his agent Simon Vumbaca.
However, in 1991, Bunny Wailer faced one of the lowest points in his career at the annual Sting event in Portmore, when he was driven off stage by a shower of bottles thrown by the audience. This incident, not uncommon at dancehall events, highlighted the tension between Wailer's traditional style and the emerging trends popularized by artists such as Ninjaman and Shabba Ranks.
In August 2012, it was announced that Bunny Wailer would receive Jamaica's fifth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica.
In 2016, he played a month-long 'Blackheart Man' tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his 1976 album.
In October 2017, he was awarded the Order of Merit by the Jamaican government, the nation's fourth-highest honour.
In October 2019, a commemorative blue plaque dedicated by the Nubian Jak Community Trust honoring Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer was placed at the former site of Basing Street Studios in London, where Catch a Fire and Burnin' were completed.
In November 2019, Wailer received a Pinnacle Award in New York from the Coalition to Preserve Reggae.
== Health and death ==
In October 2018, Wailer suffered a minor stroke, resulting in speech problems. After suffering another stroke in July 2020, he was hospitalized at Andrews Memorial Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, where he eventually died on 2 March 2021 at the age of 73, of complications from the stroke he suffered the previous year.
== Solo discography ==
=== Albums ===
=== Compilations ===
Crucial! Roots Classics (1994) RAS
Retrospective (1995) Solomonic/Shanachie
Dubd'sco Volumes 1 & 2 (1998) RAS
Bob Marley & The Wailers Vol 2: Bunny Wailer & Johnny Lover (2002) Saludos Amigos (with Johnny Lover)
Winning Combinations: Bunny Wailer & Dennis Brown (2002) Universal Special Products (with Dennis Brown)
The Wailers Legacy (2006) Solomonic (Bunny Wailer & The Wailers)
Solomonic Singles 1: Tread Along: 1969–1976 (2016) Dub Store Records/Tuff Gong/Island
Solomonic Singles 2: Rise and Shine: 1977–1986 (2016) Dub Store Records/Solomonic
=== DVDs ===
Live (2005) Video Music, Inc.
==== Appearances on DVD compilations ====
A Reggae Session (1988) Sony BMG, features "Roots, Radics, Rockers and Reggae" and "Rise and Shine"
==== Discography overview ====
Roots Reggae Library |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood | Wood | Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. Being a natural material, it is characterized as an organic material – a natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin and hemicelluloses that resists compression.
Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere, such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree, it performs a mechanical-support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients among the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, woodchips, or fibers.
Wood has been used for thousands of years for fuel, as a construction material, for making tools and weapons, furniture and paper. More recently it emerged as a feedstock for the production of purified cellulose and its derivatives, such as cellophane and cellulose acetate.
As of 2020, the growing stock of forests worldwide was about 557 billion cubic meters. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy. In 2023, almost 4 billion cubic meters of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction.
Wood is scientifically studied and researched through the discipline of wood science, which was initiated since the beginning of the 20th century.
== History ==
A 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick yielded the earliest known plants to have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago.
Wood can be dated by carbon dating and in some species by dendrochronology to determine when a wooden object was created.
People have used wood for thousands of years for many purposes, including as a fuel or as a construction material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks, and paper. Known constructions using wood date back ten thousand years. Buildings like the longhouses in Neolithic Europe were made primarily of wood.
Recent use of wood has been enhanced by the addition of steel and bronze into construction.
The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the prevailing climate at the time a tree was cut.
Early humans progressively invented tools and techniques for trapping animals. The earliest spears were crafted from wood, with tips toughened by burning. By 15,000 BC, hunters employed wooden and bone spear-launchers to enhance force and distance. These devices were frequently adorned with carvings of creatures.
== Physical properties ==
=== Growth rings ===
Wood, in the strict sense, is yielded by trees, which increase in diameter by the formation, between the existing wood and the inner bark, of new woody layers which envelop the entire stem, living branches, and roots. This process is known as secondary growth; it is the result of cell division in the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem, and subsequent expansion of the new cells. These cells then go on to form thickened secondary cell walls, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.
Where the differences between the seasons are distinct, e.g. New Zealand, growth can occur in a discrete annual or seasonal pattern, leading to growth rings; these can usually be most clearly seen on the end of a log, but are also visible on the other surfaces. If the distinctiveness between seasons is annual (as is the case in equatorial regions, e.g. Singapore), these growth rings are referred to as annual rings. Where there is little seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be indistinct or absent. If the bark of the tree has been removed in a particular area, the rings will likely be deformed as the plant overgrows the scar.
If there are differences within a growth ring, then the part of a growth ring nearest the center of the tree, and formed early in the growing season when growth is rapid, is usually composed of wider elements. It is usually lighter in color than that near the outer portion of the ring, and is known as earlywood or springwood. The outer portion formed later in the season is then known as the latewood or summerwood. There are major differences, depending on the kind of wood. If a tree grows all its life in the open and the conditions of soil and site remain unchanged, it will make its most rapid growth in youth, and gradually decline. The annual rings of growth are for many years quite wide, but later they become narrower and narrower. Since each succeeding ring is laid down on the outside of the wood previously formed, it follows that unless a tree materially increases its production of wood from year to year, the rings must necessarily become thinner as the trunk gets wider. As a tree reaches maturity its crown becomes more open and the annual wood production is lessened, thereby reducing still more the width of the growth rings. In the case of forest-grown trees so much depends upon the competition of the trees in their struggle for light and nourishment that periods of rapid and slow growth may alternate. Some trees, such as southern oaks, maintain the same width of ring for hundreds of years. On the whole, as a tree gets larger in diameter the width of the growth rings decreases.
=== Knots ===
As a tree grows, lower branches often die, and their bases may become overgrown and enclosed by subsequent layers of trunk wood, forming a type of imperfection known as a knot. The dead branch may not be attached to the trunk wood except at its base and can drop out after the tree has been sawn into boards. Knots affect the technical properties of the wood, usually reducing tension strength, but may be exploited for visual effect. In a longitudinally sawn plank, a knot will appear as a roughly circular "solid" (usually darker) piece of wood around which the grain of the rest of the wood "flows" (parts and rejoins). Within a knot, the direction of the wood (grain direction) is up to 90 degrees different from the grain direction of the regular wood.
In the tree a knot is either the base of a side branch or a dormant bud. A knot (when the base of a side branch) is conical in shape (hence the roughly circular cross-section) with the inner tip at the point in stem diameter at which the plant's vascular cambium was located when the branch formed as a bud.
In grading lumber and structural timber, knots are classified according to their form, size, soundness, and the firmness with which they are held in place. This firmness is affected by, among other factors, the length of time for which the branch was dead while the attaching stem continued to grow.
Knots materially affect cracking and warping, ease in working, and cleavability of timber. They are defects which weaken timber and lower its value for structural purposes where strength is an important consideration. The weakening effect is much more serious when timber is subjected to forces perpendicular to the grain and/or tension than when under load along the grain and/or compression. The extent to which knots affect the strength of a beam depends upon their position, size, number, and condition. A knot on the upper side is compressed, while one on the lower side is subjected to tension. If there is a season check in the knot, as is often the case, it will offer little resistance to this tensile stress. Small knots may be located along the neutral plane of a beam and increase the strength by preventing longitudinal shearing. Knots in a board or plank are least injurious when they extend through it at right angles to its broadest surface. Knots which occur near the ends of a beam do not weaken it. Sound knots which occur in the central portion one-fourth the height of the beam from either edge are not serious defects.
Knots do not necessarily influence the stiffness of structural timber; this will depend on the size and location. Stiffness and elastic strength are more dependent upon the sound wood than upon localized defects. The breaking strength is very susceptible to defects. Sound knots do not weaken wood when subject to compression parallel to the grain.
In some decorative applications, wood with knots may be desirable to add visual interest. In applications where wood is painted, such as skirting boards, fascia boards, door frames and furniture, resins present in the timber may continue to 'bleed' through to the surface of a knot for months or even years after manufacture and show as a yellow or brownish stain. A knot primer paint or solution (knotting), correctly applied during preparation, may do much to reduce this problem but it is difficult to control completely, especially when using mass-produced kiln-dried timber stocks.
=== Heartwood and sapwood ===
Heartwood (or duramen) is wood that as a result of a naturally occurring chemical transformation has become more resistant to decay. Heartwood formation is a genetically programmed process that occurs spontaneously. Some uncertainty exists as to whether the wood dies during heartwood formation, as it can still chemically react to decay organisms, but only once.
The term heartwood derives solely from its position and not from any vital importance to the tree. This is evidenced by the fact that a tree can thrive with its heart completely decayed. Some species begin to form heartwood very early in life, so having only a thin layer of live sapwood, while in others the change comes slowly. Thin sapwood is characteristic of such species as chestnut, black locust, mulberry, osage-orange, and sassafras, while in maple, ash, hickory, hackberry, beech, and pine, thick sapwood is the rule. Some others never form heartwood.
Heartwood is often visually distinct from the living sapwood and can be distinguished in a cross-section where the boundary will tend to follow the growth rings. For example, it is sometimes much darker. Other processes such as decay or insect invasion can also discolor wood, even in woody plants that do not form heartwood, which may lead to confusion.
Sapwood (or alburnum) is the younger, outermost wood; in the growing tree it is living wood, and its principal functions are to conduct water from the roots to the leaves and to store up and give back according to the season the reserves prepared in the leaves. By the time they become competent to conduct water, all xylem tracheids and vessels have lost their cytoplasm and the cells are therefore functionally dead. All wood in a tree is first formed as sapwood. The more leaves a tree bears and the more vigorous its growth, the larger the volume of sapwood required. Hence trees making rapid growth in the open have thicker sapwood for their size than trees of the same species growing in dense forests. Sometimes trees (of species that do form heartwood) grown in the open may become of considerable size, 30 cm (12 in) or more in diameter, before any heartwood begins to form, for example, in second growth hickory, or open-grown pines.
No definite relation exists between the annual rings of growth and the amount of sapwood. Within the same species the cross-sectional area of the sapwood is very roughly proportional to the size of the crown of the tree. If the rings are narrow, more of them are required than where they are wide. As the tree gets larger, the sapwood must necessarily become thinner or increase materially in volume. Sapwood is relatively thicker in the upper portion of the trunk of a tree than near the base, because the age and the diameter of the upper sections are less.
When a tree is very young it is covered with limbs almost, if not entirely, to the ground, but as it grows older some or all of them will eventually die and are either broken off or fall off. Subsequent growth of wood may completely conceal the stubs which will remain as knots. No matter how smooth and clear a log is on the outside, it is more or less knotty near the middle. Consequently, the sapwood of an old tree, and particularly of a forest-grown tree, will be freer from knots than the inner heartwood. Since in most uses of wood, knots are defects that weaken the timber and interfere with its ease of working and other properties, it follows that a given piece of sapwood, because of its position in the tree, may well be stronger than a piece of heartwood from the same tree.
Different pieces of wood cut from a large tree may differ decidedly, particularly if the tree is big and mature. In some trees, the wood laid on late in the life of a tree is softer, lighter, weaker, and more even textured than that produced earlier, but in other trees, the reverse applies. This may or may not correspond to heartwood and sapwood. In a large log the sapwood, because of the time in the life of the tree when it was grown, may be inferior in hardness, strength, and toughness to equally sound heartwood from the same log. In a smaller tree, the reverse may be true.
=== Color ===
In species which show a distinct difference between heartwood and sapwood the natural color of heartwood is usually darker than that of the sapwood, and very frequently the contrast is conspicuous (see section of yew log above). This is produced by deposits in the heartwood of chemical substances, so that a dramatic color variation does not imply a significant difference in the mechanical properties of heartwood and sapwood, although there may be a marked biochemical difference between the two.
Some experiments on very resinous longleaf pine specimens indicate an increase in strength, due to the resin which increases the strength when dry. Such resin-saturated heartwood is called "fat lighter". Structures built of fat lighter are almost impervious to rot and termites, and very flammable. Tree stumps of old longleaf pines are often dug, split into small pieces and sold as kindling for fires. Stumps thus dug may actually remain a century or more since being cut. Spruce impregnated with crude resin and dried is also greatly increased in strength thereby.
Since the latewood of a growth ring is usually darker in color than the earlywood, this fact may be used in visually judging the density, and therefore the hardness and strength of the material. This is particularly the case with coniferous woods. In ring-porous woods the vessels of the early wood often appear on a finished surface as darker than the denser latewood, though on cross sections of heartwood the reverse is commonly true. Otherwise the color of wood is no indication of strength.
Abnormal discoloration of wood often denotes a diseased condition, indicating unsoundness. The black check in western hemlock is the result of insect attacks. The reddish-brown streaks so common in hickory and certain other woods are mostly the result of injury by birds. The discoloration is merely an indication of an injury, and in all probability does not of itself affect the properties of the wood. Certain rot-producing fungi impart to wood characteristic colors which thus become symptomatic of weakness. Ordinary sap-staining is due to fungal growth, but does not necessarily produce a weakening effect.
=== Water content ===
Water occurs in living wood in three locations, namely:
in the cell walls
in the protoplasmic contents of the cells
as free water in the cell cavities and spaces, especially of the xylem
In heartwood it occurs only in the first and last forms. Wood that is thoroughly air-dried (in equilibrium with the moisture content of the air) retains 8–16% of the water in the cell walls, and none, or practically none, in the other forms. Even oven-dried wood retains a small percentage of moisture, but for all except chemical purposes, may be considered absolutely dry.
The general effect of the water content upon the wood substance is to render it softer and more pliable. A similar effect occurs in the softening action of water on rawhide, paper, or cloth. Within certain limits, the greater the water content, the greater its softening effect. The moisture in wood can be measured by several different moisture meters.
Drying produces a decided increase in the strength of wood, particularly in small specimens. An extreme example is the case of a completely dry spruce block 5 cm in section, which will sustain a permanent load four times as great as a green (undried) block of the same size will.
The greatest strength increase due to drying is in the ultimate crushing strength, and strength at elastic limit in endwise compression; these are followed by the modulus of rupture, and stress at elastic limit in cross-bending, while the modulus of elasticity is least affected.
=== Structure ===
Wood is a heterogeneous, hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic (or more specifically, orthotropic) material. It consists of cells, and the cell walls are composed of micro-fibrils of cellulose (40–50%) and hemicellulose (15–25%) impregnated with lignin (15–30%).
In coniferous or softwood species the wood cells are mostly of one kind, tracheids, and as a result the material is much more uniform in structure than that of most hardwoods. There are no vessels ("pores") in coniferous wood such as one sees so prominently in oak and ash, for example.
The structure of hardwoods is more complex. The water conducting capability is mostly taken care of by vessels: in some cases (oak, chestnut, ash) these are quite large and distinct, in others (buckeye, poplar, willow) too small to be seen without a hand lens. In discussing such woods it is customary to divide them into two large classes, ring-porous and diffuse-porous.
In ring-porous species, such as ash, black locust, catalpa, chestnut, elm, hickory, mulberry, and oak, the larger vessels or pores (as cross sections of vessels are called) are localized in the part of the growth ring formed in spring, thus forming a region of more or less open and porous tissue. The rest of the ring, produced in summer, is made up of smaller vessels and a much greater proportion of wood fibers. These fibers are the elements which give strength and toughness to wood, while the vessels are a source of weakness.
In diffuse-porous woods the pores are evenly sized so that the water conducting capability is scattered throughout the growth ring instead of being collected in a band or row. Examples of this kind of wood are alder, basswood, birch, buckeye, maple, willow, and the Populus species such as aspen, cottonwood and poplar. Some species, such as walnut and cherry, are on the border between the two classes, forming an intermediate group.
=== Earlywood and latewood ===
==== In softwood ====
In temperate softwoods, there often is a marked difference between latewood and earlywood. The latewood will be denser than that formed early in the season. When examined under a microscope, the cells of dense latewood are seen to be very thick-walled and with very small cell cavities, while those formed first in the season have thin walls and large cell cavities. The strength is in the walls, not the cavities. Hence the greater the proportion of latewood, the greater the density and strength. In choosing a piece of pine where strength or stiffness is the important consideration, the principal thing to observe is the comparative amounts of earlywood and latewood. The width of ring is not nearly so important as the proportion and nature of the latewood in the ring.
If a heavy piece of pine is compared with a lightweight piece it will be seen at once that the heavier one contains a larger proportion of latewood than the other, and is therefore showing more clearly demarcated growth rings. In white pines there is not much contrast between the different parts of the ring, and as a result the wood is very uniform in texture and is easy to work. In hard pines, on the other hand, the latewood is very dense and is deep-colored, presenting a very decided contrast to the soft, straw-colored earlywood.
It is not only the proportion of latewood, but also its quality, that counts. In specimens that show a very large proportion of latewood it may be noticeably more porous and weigh considerably less than the latewood in pieces that contain less latewood. One can judge comparative density, and therefore to some extent strength, by visual inspection.
No satisfactory explanation can as yet be given for the exact mechanisms determining the formation of earlywood and latewood. Several factors may be involved. In conifers, at least, rate of growth alone does not determine the proportion of the two portions of the ring, for in some cases the wood of slow growth is very hard and heavy, while in others the opposite is true. The quality of the site where the tree grows undoubtedly affects the character of the wood formed, though it is not possible to formulate a rule governing it. In general, where strength or ease of working is essential, woods of moderate to slow growth should be chosen.
==== In ring-porous woods ====
In ring-porous woods, each season's growth is always well defined, because the large pores formed early in the season abut on the denser tissue of the year before.
In the case of the ring-porous hardwoods, there seems to exist a pretty definite relation between the rate of growth of timber and its properties. This may be briefly summed up in the general statement that the more rapid the growth or the wider the rings of growth, the heavier, harder, stronger, and stiffer the wood. This, it must be remembered, applies only to ring-porous woods such as oak, ash, hickory, and others of the same group, and is, of course, subject to some exceptions and limitations.
In ring-porous woods of good growth, it is usually the latewood in which the thick-walled, strength-giving fibers are most abundant. As the breadth of ring diminishes, this latewood is reduced so that very slow growth produces comparatively light, porous wood composed of thin-walled vessels and wood parenchyma. In good oak, these large vessels of the earlywood occupy from six to ten percent of the volume of the log, while in inferior material they may make up 25% or more. The latewood of good oak is dark colored and firm, and consists mostly of thick-walled fibers which form one-half or more of the wood. In inferior oak, this latewood is much reduced both in quantity and quality. Such variation is very largely the result of rate of growth.
Wide-ringed wood is often called "second-growth", because the growth of the young timber in open stands after the old trees have been removed is more rapid than in trees in a closed forest, and in the manufacture of articles where strength is an important consideration such "second-growth" hardwood material is preferred. This is particularly the case in the choice of hickory for handles and spokes. Here not only strength, but toughness and resilience are important.
The results of a series of tests on hickory by the U.S. Forest Service show that:
"The work or shock-resisting ability is greatest in wide-ringed wood that has from 5 to 14 rings per inch (rings 1.8-5 mm thick), is fairly constant from 14 to 38 rings per inch (rings 0.7–1.8 mm thick), and decreases rapidly from 38 to 47 rings per inch (rings 0.5–0.7 mm thick). The strength at maximum load is not so great with the most rapid-growing wood; it is maximum with from 14 to 20 rings per inch (rings 1.3–1.8 mm thick), and again becomes less as the wood becomes more closely ringed. The natural deduction is that wood of first-class mechanical value shows from 5 to 20 rings per inch (rings 1.3–5 mm thick) and that slower growth yields poorer stock. Thus the inspector or buyer of hickory should discriminate against timber that has more than 20 rings per inch (rings less than 1.3 mm thick). Exceptions exist, however, in the case of normal growth upon dry situations, in which the slow-growing material may be strong and tough."
The effect of rate of growth on the qualities of chestnut wood is summarized by the same authority as follows:
"When the rings are wide, the transition from spring wood to summer wood is gradual, while in the narrow rings the spring wood passes into summer wood abruptly. The width of the spring wood changes but little with the width of the annual ring, so that the narrowing or broadening of the annual ring is always at the expense of the summer wood. The narrow vessels of the summer wood make it richer in wood substance than the spring wood composed of wide vessels. Therefore, rapid-growing specimens with wide rings have more wood substance than slow-growing trees with narrow rings. Since the more the wood substance the greater the weight, and the greater the weight the stronger the wood, chestnuts with wide rings must have stronger wood than chestnuts with narrow rings. This agrees with the accepted view that sprouts (which always have wide rings) yield better and stronger wood than seedling chestnuts, which grow more slowly in diameter."
==== In diffuse-porous woods ====
In the diffuse-porous woods, the demarcation between rings is not always so clear and in some cases is almost (if not entirely) invisible to the unaided eye. Conversely, when there is a clear demarcation there may not be a noticeable difference in structure within the growth ring.
In diffuse-porous woods, as has been stated, the vessels or pores are even-sized, so that the water conducting capability is scattered throughout the ring instead of collected in the earlywood. The effect of rate of growth is, therefore, not the same as in the ring-porous woods, approaching more nearly the conditions in the conifers. In general, it may be stated that such woods of medium growth afford stronger material than when very rapidly or very slowly grown. In many uses of wood, total strength is not the main consideration. If ease of working is prized, wood should be chosen with regard to its uniformity of texture and straightness of grain, which will in most cases occur when there is little contrast between the latewood of one season's growth and the earlywood of the next.
=== Monocots ===
Structural material that resembles ordinary, "dicot" or conifer timber in its gross handling characteristics is produced by a number of monocot plants, and these also are colloquially called wood. Of these, bamboo, botanically a member of the grass family, has considerable economic importance, larger culms being widely used as a building and construction material and in the manufacture of engineered flooring, panels and veneer. Another major plant group that produces material that often is called wood are the palms. Of much less importance are plants such as Pandanus, Dracaena and Cordyline. With all this material, the structure and composition of the processed raw material is quite different from ordinary wood.
=== Specific gravity ===
The single most revealing property of wood as an indicator of wood quality is specific gravity (Timell 1986), as both pulp yield and lumber strength are determined by it. Specific gravity is the ratio of the mass of a substance to the mass of an equal volume of water; density is the ratio of a mass of a quantity of a substance to the volume of that quantity and is expressed in mass per unit substance, e.g., grams per milliliter (g/cm3 or g/ml). The terms are essentially equivalent as long as the metric system is used. Upon drying, wood shrinks and its density increases. Minimum values are associated with green (water-saturated) wood and are referred to as basic specific gravity (Timell 1986).
The U.S. Forest Products Laboratory lists a variety of ways to define specific gravity (G) and density (ρ) for wood:
The FPL has adopted Gb and G12 for specific gravity, in accordance with the ASTM D2555 standard. These are scientifically useful, but don't represent any condition that could physically occur. The FPL Wood Handbook also provides formulas for approximately converting any of these measurements to any other.
=== Density ===
Wood density is determined by multiple growth and physiological factors compounded into "one fairly easily measured wood characteristic" (Elliott 1970).
Age, diameter, height, radial (trunk) growth, geographical location, site and growing conditions, silvicultural treatment, and seed source all to some degree influence wood density. Variation is to be expected. The USDA Forest Service measured a coefficient of variation for the specific gravity of wood as 10%. In other words, about 68% (a standard deviation) of samples will fall within ±10% of the average specific gravity for a given species. Within an individual tree, the variation in wood density is often as great as or even greater than that between different trees (Timell 1986). Variation of specific gravity within the bole of a tree can occur in either the horizontal or vertical direction.
Because the specific gravity as defined above uses an unrealistic condition, woodworkers tend to use the "average dried weight", which is a density based on mass at 12% moisture content and volume at the same (ρ12). This condition occurs when the wood is at equilibrium moisture content with air at about 65% relative humidity and temperature at 30 °C (86 °F). This density is expressed in units of kg/m3 or lbs/ft3. If you know the specific gravity at 12% MC, G12 (from the Wood Handbook), then multiply by 1120 to get the average dried weight at 12% MC, ρ12, in kg/m3. For example, if G12 is 0.40, then average dried weight is ρ12 = 0.40 * 1120 = 448 kg/m3. You can also find values for dried weight in two other FPL publications, Hardwoods of North America and Softwoods of North America.
=== Tables ===
The following tables list the mechanical properties of wood and lumber plant species, including bamboo. See also Mechanical properties of tonewoods for additional properties.
Wood properties:
Bamboo properties:
== Hard versus soft ==
It is common to classify wood as either softwood or hardwood. The wood from conifers (e.g. pine) is called softwood, and the wood from dicotyledons (usually broad-leaved trees, e.g. oak) is called hardwood. These names are a bit misleading, as hardwoods are not necessarily hard, and softwoods are not necessarily soft. The well-known balsa (a hardwood) is actually softer than any commercial softwood. Conversely, some softwoods (e.g. yew) are harder than many hardwoods.
There is a strong relationship between the properties of wood and the properties of the particular tree that yielded it, at least for certain species. For example, in loblolly pine, wind exposure and stem position greatly affect the hardness of wood, as well as compression wood content. The density of wood varies with species. The density of a wood correlates with its strength (mechanical properties). For example, mahogany is a medium-dense hardwood that is excellent for fine furniture crafting, whereas balsa is light, making it useful for model building. One of the densest woods is black ironwood.
== Chemistry ==
The chemical composition of wood varies from species to species, but is approximately 50% carbon, 42% oxygen, 6% hydrogen, 1% nitrogen, and 1% other elements (mainly calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, and manganese) by weight. Wood also contains sulfur, chlorine, silicon, phosphorus, and other elements in small quantity.
Aside from water, wood has three main components. Cellulose, a crystalline polymer derived from glucose, constitutes about 41–43%. Next in abundance is hemicellulose, which is around 20% in deciduous trees but near 30% in conifers. It is mainly five-carbon sugars that are linked in an irregular manner, in contrast to the cellulose. Lignin is the third component at around 27% in coniferous wood vs. 23% in deciduous trees. Lignin confers the hydrophobic properties reflecting the fact that it is based on aromatic rings. These three components are interwoven, and direct covalent linkages exist between the lignin and the hemicellulose. A major focus of the paper industry is the separation of the lignin from the cellulose, from which paper is made.
In chemical terms, the difference between hardwood and softwood is reflected in the composition of the constituent lignin. Hardwood lignin is primarily derived from sinapyl alcohol and coniferyl alcohol. Softwood lignin is mainly derived from coniferyl alcohol.
=== Extractives ===
Aside from the structural polymers, i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin (lignocellulose), wood contains a large variety of non-structural constituents, composed of low molecular weight organic compounds, called extractives. These compounds are present in the extracellular space and can be extracted from the wood using different neutral solvents, such as acetone. Analogous content is present in the so-called exudate produced by trees in response to mechanical damage or after being attacked by insects or fungi. Unlike the structural constituents, the composition of extractives varies over wide ranges and depends on many factors. The amount and composition of extractives differs between tree species, various parts of the same tree, and depends on genetic factors and growth conditions, such as climate and geography. For example, slower growing trees and higher parts of trees have higher content of extractives. Generally, the softwood is richer in extractives than the hardwood. Their concentration increases from the cambium to the pith. Barks and branches also contain extractives. Although extractives represent a small fraction of the wood content, usually less than 10%, they are extraordinarily diverse and thus characterize the chemistry of the wood species. Most extractives are secondary metabolites and some of them serve as precursors to other chemicals. Wood extractives display different activities, some of them are produced in response to wounds, and some of them participate in natural defense against insects and fungi.
These compounds contribute to various physical and chemical properties of the wood, such as wood color, fragnance, durability, acoustic properties, hygroscopicity, adhesion, and drying. Considering these impacts, wood extractives also affect the properties of pulp and paper, and importantly cause many problems in paper industry. Some extractives are surface-active substances and unavoidably affect the surface properties of paper, such as water adsorption, friction and strength. Lipophilic extractives often give rise to sticky deposits during kraft pulping and may leave spots on paper. Extractives also account for paper smell, which is important when making food contact materials.
Most wood extractives are lipophilic and only a little part is water-soluble. The lipophilic portion of extractives, which is collectively referred as wood resin, contains fats and fatty acids, sterols and steryl esters, terpenes, terpenoids, resin acids, and waxes. The heating of resin, i.e. distillation, vaporizes the volatile terpenes and leaves the solid component – rosin. The concentrated liquid of volatile compounds extracted during steam distillation is called essential oil. Distillation of oleoresin obtained from many pines provides rosin and turpentine.
Most extractives can be categorized into three groups: aliphatic compounds, terpenes and phenolic compounds. The latter are more water-soluble and usually are absent in the resin.
Aliphatic compounds include fatty acids, fatty alcohols and their esters with glycerol, fatty alcohols (waxes) and sterols (steryl esters). Hydrocarbons, such as alkanes, are also present in the wood. Suberin is a polyester, made of suberin acids and glycerol, mainly found in barks. Fats serve as a source of energy for the wood cells. The most common wood sterol is sitosterol, and less commonly sitostanol, citrostadienol, campesterol or cholesterol.
The main terpenes occurring in the softwood include mono-, sesqui- and diterpenes. Meanwhile, the terpene composition of the hardwood is considerably different, consisting of triterpenoids, polyprenols and other higher terpenes. Examples of mono-, di- and sesquiterpenes are α- and β-pinenes, 3-carene, β-myrcene, limonene, thujaplicins, α- and β-phellandrenes, α-muurolene, δ-cadinene, α- and δ-cadinols, α- and β-cedrenes, juniperol, longifolene, cis-abienol, borneol, pinifolic acid, nootkatin, chanootin, phytol, geranyl-linalool, β-epimanool, manoyloxide, pimaral and pimarol. Resin acids are usually tricyclic terpenoids, examples of which are pimaric acid, sandaracopimaric acid, isopimaric acid, abietic acid, levopimaric acid, palustric acid, neoabietic acid and dehydroabietic acid. Bicyclic resin acids are also found, such as lambertianic acid, communic acid, mercusic acid and secodehydroabietic acid. Cycloartenol, betulin and squalene are triterpenoids purified from hardwood. Examples of wood polyterpenes are rubber (cis-polypren), gutta percha (trans-polypren), gutta-balatá (trans-polypren) and betulaprenols (acyclic polyterpenoids). The mono- and sesquiterpenes of the softwood are responsible for the typical smell of pine forest. Many monoterpenoids, such as β-myrcene, are used in the preparation of flavors and fragrances. Tropolones, such as hinokitiol and other thujaplicins, are present in decay-resistant trees and display fungicidal and insecticidal properties. Tropolones strongly bind metal ions and can cause digester corrosion in the process kraft pulping. Owing to their metal-binding and ionophoric properties, especially thujaplicins are used in physiology experiments. Different other in-vitro biological activities of thujaplicins have been studied, such as insecticidal, anti-browning, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-proliferative and anti-oxidant.
Phenolic compounds are especially found in the hardwood and the bark. The most well-known wood phenolic constituents are stilbenes (e.g. pinosylvin), lignans (e.g. pinoresinol, conidendrin, plicatic acid, hydroxymatairesinol), norlignans (e.g. nyasol, puerosides A and B, hydroxysugiresinol, sequirin-C), tannins (e.g. gallic acid, ellagic acid), flavonoids (e.g. chrysin, taxifolin, catechin, genistein). Most of the phenolic compounds have fungicidal properties and protect the wood from fungal decay. Together with the neolignans the phenolic compounds influence on the color of the wood. Resin acids and phenolic compounds are the main toxic contaminants present in the untreated effluents from pulping. Polyphenolic compounds are one of the most abundant biomolecules produced by plants, such as flavonoids and tannins. Tannins are used in leather industry and have shown to exhibit different biological activities. Flavonoids are very diverse, widely distributed in the plant kingdom and have numerous biological activities and roles.
== Uses ==
=== Production ===
Global production of roundwood rose from 3.5 billion m³ in 2000 to 4 billion m³ in 2021. In 2021, wood fuel was the main product with a 49 percent share of the total (2 billion m³), followed by coniferous industrial roundwood with 30 percent (1.2 billion m³) and non-coniferous industrial roundwood with 21 percent (0.9 billion m³). Asia and the Americas are the two main producing regions, accounting for 29 and 28 percent of the total roundwood production, respectively; Africa and Europe have similar shares of 20–21 percent, while Oceania produces the remaining 2 percent.
=== Fuel ===
Wood has a long history of being used as fuel, which continues to this day, mostly in rural areas of the world. Hardwood is preferred over softwood because it creates less smoke and burns longer. Adding a woodstove or fireplace to a home is often felt to add ambiance and warmth.
=== Pulpwood ===
Pulpwood is wood that is raised specifically for use in making paper.
=== Construction ===
Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, houses and boats. Nearly all boats were made out of wood until the late 19th century, and wood remains in common use today in boat construction. Elm in particular was used for this purpose as it resisted decay as long as it was kept wet (it also served for water pipe before the advent of more modern plumbing).
Wood to be used for construction work is commonly known as lumber in North America. Elsewhere, lumber usually refers to felled trees, and the word for sawn planks ready for use is timber. In medieval Europe oak was the wood of choice for all wood construction, including beams, walls, doors, and floors. Today a wider variety of woods is used: solid wood doors are often made from poplar, small-knotted pine, and Douglas fir.
New domestic housing in many parts of the world today is commonly made from timber-framed construction. Engineered wood products are becoming a bigger part of the construction industry. They may be used in both residential and commercial buildings as structural and aesthetic materials.
In buildings made of other materials, wood will still be found as a supporting material, especially in roof construction, in interior doors and their frames, and as exterior cladding.
Wood is also commonly used as shuttering material to form the mold into which concrete is poured during reinforced concrete construction.
==== Flooring ====
A solid wood floor is a floor laid with planks or battens created from a single piece of timber, usually a hardwood. Since wood is hydroscopic (it acquires and loses moisture from the ambient conditions around it) this potential instability effectively limits the length and width of the boards.
Solid hardwood flooring is usually cheaper than engineered timbers and damaged areas can be sanded down and refinished repeatedly, the number of times being limited only by the thickness of wood above the tongue.
Solid hardwood floors were originally used for structural purposes, being installed perpendicular to the wooden support beams of a building (the joists or bearers) and solid construction timber is still often used for sports floors as well as most traditional wood blocks, mosaics and parquetry.
==== Engineered products ====
Engineered wood products, glued building products "engineered" for application-specific performance requirements, are often used in construction and industrial applications. Glued engineered wood products are manufactured by bonding together wood strands, veneers, lumber or other forms of wood fiber with glue to form a larger, more efficient composite structural unit.
These products include glued laminated timber (glulam), wood structural panels (including plywood, oriented strand board and composite panels), laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and other structural composite lumber (SCL) products, parallel strand lumber, and I-joists. Approximately 100 million cubic meters of wood was consumed for this purpose in 1991. The trends suggest that particle board and fiber board will overtake plywood.
Wood unsuitable for construction in its native form may be broken down mechanically (into fibers or chips) or chemically (into cellulose) and used as a raw material for other building materials, such as engineered wood, as well as chipboard, hardboard, and medium-density fiberboard (MDF). Such wood derivatives are widely used: wood fibers are an important component of most paper, and cellulose is used as a component of some synthetic materials. Wood derivatives can be used for kinds of flooring, for example laminate flooring.
=== Furniture and utensils ===
Wood has always been used extensively for furniture, such as chairs and beds. It is also used for tool handles and cutlery, such as chopsticks, toothpicks, and other utensils, like the wooden spoon and pencil.
=== Other ===
Further developments include new lignin glue applications, recyclable food packaging, rubber tire replacement applications, anti-bacterial medical agents, and high strength fabrics or composites.
As scientists and engineers further learn and develop new techniques to extract various components from wood, or alternatively to modify wood, for example by adding components to wood, new more advanced products will appear on the marketplace. Moisture content electronic monitoring can also enhance next generation wood protection.
=== Art ===
Wood has long been used as an artistic medium. It has been used to make sculptures and carvings for millennia. Examples include the totem poles carved by North American indigenous people from conifer trunks, often Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata).
Other uses of wood in the arts include:
Woodcut printmaking and engraving
Wood can be a surface to paint on, such as in panel painting
Many musical instruments are made mostly or entirely of wood
=== Sports and recreational equipment ===
Many types of sports equipment are made of wood, or were constructed of wood in the past. For example, cricket bats are typically made of white willow. The baseball bats which are legal for use in Major League Baseball are frequently made of ash wood or hickory, and in recent years have been constructed from maple even though that wood is somewhat more fragile. National Basketball Association courts have been traditionally made out of parquetry.
Many other types of sports and recreation equipment, such as skis, ice hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and archery bows, were commonly made of wood in the past, but have since been replaced with more modern materials such as aluminium, titanium or composite materials such as fiberglass and carbon fiber. One noteworthy example of this trend is the family of golf clubs commonly known as the woods, the heads of which were traditionally made of persimmon wood in the early days of the game of golf, but are now generally made of metal or (especially in the case of drivers) carbon-fiber composites.
== Bacterial degradation ==
Little is known about the bacteria that degrade cellulose. Symbiotic bacteria in Xylophaga may play a role in the degradation of sunken wood. Alphaproteobacteria, Flavobacteria, Actinomycetota, Clostridia, and Bacteroidota have been detected in wood submerged for over a year. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Pass | Devil's Pass | Devil's Pass (originally titled The Dyatlov Pass Incident) is a 2013 horror film directed by Renny Harlin, written by Vikram Weet, and starring Holly Goss, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright, Ryan Hawley and Gemma Atkinson as Americans who investigate the Dyatlov Pass incident. It is shot in the style of found footage.
== Plot ==
Russian-language news, Russia-24, discusses five Oregon college students' disappearance. The Russian government recovers video footage but refuses to release it to the public; however, hackers obtain and release the footage. The students were in Russia to find out what happened to the nine hikers who mysteriously died in the Dyatlov Pass incident. Holly King and Jensen Day are co-directors, J.P. Hauser, Jr. and Andy Thatcher are expert climbers, and Denise Evers is the sound engineer.
The students first try to contact Piotr Karov, a member of the initial 1959 expedition who turned back after becoming ill on the first day. However, Karov has been hospitalized following a nervous breakdown. The administrators at the hospital claim that he is dead and attempt to turn away the filmmakers. In an upstairs window, the students see a man they assume to be Karov; he holds up a sign in Russian and is dragged away by orderlies. At a bar, the students recruit Sergei, who translates the sign as a warning to "stay away". Undeterred, Sergei introduces them to his aunt, Alya, who was part of the first rescue team. She tells them that a strange machine and eleven bodies were found at the site, not nine, as is commonly reported. The final two bodies had something wrong with them.
At their campsite, Holly hears howling. The next morning, the group notices barefoot prints in the snow that start and stop suddenly. Jensen claims the footprints are from yeti, but the others claim that Holly is messing with them. After hiking further, they again hear howling and find footprints that lead to a weather tower. Inside the weather tower, they find a human tongue. Denise wants to leave, but the others convince her to continue. Jensen reveals that as a teenager, he had heard the howling during a bad acid trip that ended with him being arrested while yelling incoherently about demons. Holly attempts to comfort Jensen by relating that she has had recurring dreams about Dyatlov Pass, which she interprets as fate. Unnoticed by the group, two mysterious creatures move through the snow in the distance.
The group arrives at Dyatlov Pass unsettlingly ahead of schedule. J. P. and Andy are further spooked when their navigational equipment exhibits strange malfunctions. Using a Geiger counter, Holly and Jensen are led to a bunker that locks from the outside. The door is already unlocked but frozen shut; they manage to open the door. They return to the camp without telling anyone about the bunker. The next morning, the group is awakened by explosions that cause an avalanche. Denise is killed, and Andy suffers a severe fracture. After they fire a flare, Russian soldiers posing as a rescue party arrive, kill Andy, and chase the three survivors to the bunker. J. P. is shot and wounded as they enter. Moving into a tunnel system, a mysterious creature moves through one tunnel while the three enter another. Holly and Jensen leave the wounded J. P. as they explore the bunker. Inside, they discover evidence of teleportation experiments, a dead soldier who is missing his tongue, a camcorder identical to theirs that has footage of their present conversation, dead bodies stacked in a pile and files relating to the Philadelphia Experiment.
Jensen and Holly hear J. P. screaming, and find him under attack by mutants who seem to be able to teleport. The mutants kill J. P. and chase Jensen and Holly into a sealed room with a strange-looking tunnel that leads further into a natural cave. Jensen theorizes this is a wormhole. Unwilling to starve to death or face the mutants, Jensen and Holly choose to step into the wormhole. Since there are no controls, Jensen suggests that they visualize a nearby destination. Holly suggests the bunker entrance and they enter the wormhole.
In 1959, Soviet military personnel discover two bodies near the bunker's entrance. Soldiers chase away a younger version of Sergei's aunt Alya, who had just stumbled across the bodies. The soldiers recover their video camera and drag the bodies inside the bunker, which is fully staffed and operational. The commanding officer orders the bodies to be stripped and hung on meat hooks. As the soldiers leave, the mutated bodies of Jensen and Holly, identified by Holly's neck tattoo, begin to revive.
== Cast ==
Holly Goss as Holly King, co-director
Anastasiya Burdina as Mutant Holly King
Matt Stokoe as Jensen Day, co-director and conspiracy theorist
Luke Albright as John Patrick "J.P." Hauser, Jr., expert climber
Ryan Hawley as Andy Thatcher, expert climber
Gemma Atkinson as Denise Evers, audio engineer
Richard Reid as Sgt. Smirnov, the Russian soldier
Anton Klimov as Sgt. Smirnov (voice)
Nikolay Butenin as Sergei
Nelly Nielsen as Alya, age 73
Valeriya Fedorovich as Alya, age 20
Jane Perry as Professor Martha Kittles
Boris Stepanov as Piotr Karov
== Production ==
Director Renny Harlin spent time in Moscow researching the government archives. His own theory of what happened at the Dyatlov Pass incident is that a government experiment went wrong. The casting for the film was intentionally kept to unknowns. Shooting took place in northern Russia.
== Release ==
Devil's Pass was released 23 August 2013. It was released on DVD in the UK 26 August 2013. It was released on DVD in the US 17 December 2013.
== Reception ==
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 48% of 23 surveyed critics gave it a positive review; the average rating is 4.91/10. Metacritic rated it 49/100. Miriam Bale of The New York Times called the film "an upgraded Blair Witch Project that is hilarious, though it is not clear whether this is intentional or not." Scott Foundas of Variety called it unoriginal yet watchable. SFX rated it 2/5 stars and called it "a scare-free thriller" with an underwhelming twist. Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg of Twitch Film called for a moratorium on found footage films and stated that the film should have been about the real-life incident. Mark Adams of Screen Daily called it "shrewdly constructed" and "smartly made". Philip French of The Guardian wrote that it "adds nothing to a real-life mystery from the Soviet era" and that the explanation is too outlandish. Bloody Disgusting rated the film 3/5 stars and recommended the film to enthusiasts of the real-life event but warned that the generic story would probably not excite people tired of found footage films. Gareth Jones of Dread Central rated it 3.5/5 stars and called it "a thoroughly intriguing mash-up of sci-fi, horror and real-life mystery." Matt Glasby of Total Film rated it 3/5 stars and called it a cheesy midnight movie that requires a forgiving audience. Owen Williams of Empire called it a "smartly-executed" film with a "satisfyingly circular conclusion". Nigel Floyd of Time Out London rated it 2/5 stars and wrote that the film becomes more unbelievable and silly as time goes on. Scott Weinberg of Fearnet called it a "simple but crafty little horror tale" with a payoff that can "come off as ridiculous or novel". Chris Holt of Starburst rated it 7/10 stars and wrote that it is "a fascinating and gripping film that despite being fundamentally flawed, is well worth your time." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even_Worse | Even Worse | Even Worse is the fifth studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on April 12, 1988. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between November 1987 and February 1988, this album helped to revitalize Yankovic's career after the critical and commercial failure of his previous album Polka Party! (1986).
The music on Even Worse is built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1980s. Half of the album is made up of parodies, featuring jabs at Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Tiffany, Los Lobos, and Billy Idol. The other half is original material, featuring several "style parodies" or musical imitations that emulate existing artists. These style parodies include imitations of specific artists such as Oingo Boingo, Beastie Boys, and James Taylor. Even Worse has the distinction of being one of two albums by Yankovic lacking any polka renditions of pop songs or medleys, the other being his self-titled debut album from 1983. This album's title and cover art are spoofs of Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad.
Even Worse was met with mostly positive reviews and peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, becoming Yankovic's best-selling album. The album also produced one of Yankovic's hit singles, "Fat", a parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad", which peaked at No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a staple on MTV. The album was certified as a gold record, and later as a platinum record with sales of over one million copies in the United States, becoming Yankovic's first platinum record. "Fat" won the Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video.
== Production ==
=== Background and recording ===
After success in the early '80s, Yankovic released Polka Party! in 1986. Although featuring parodies of hit songs like "Living in America" and "Addicted to Love", the album was a critical and commercial failure. It did not yield a charting single and it peaked at number 177 on the Billboard 200. After the disappointment with Polka Party!, Yankovic went on record saying, "I thought it was the end of my career." For most of 1987, Yankovic took a break from recording.
=== Originals ===
Near the end of 1987, Yankovic returned to the studio to record the original songs that would eventually appear on Even Worse. Once again, former the McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer was brought in as producer. The album's originals were recorded in three sessions: During the first (which began on November 30, 1987), Yankovic started to record "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White" and "Melanie"; during the second session (which began on December 1, 1987), he began working on "Good Old Days", "You Make Me", and "Velvet Elvis"; and during the final session (which began on February 18, 1988), Yankovic recorded "Twister".
"Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White" is an original glam rock song in which the singer recounts a bizarre recurring dream about Vanna White. AllMusic described the song as a "real winner for Yankovic" because it was one of the musician's first originals that "his [...] target audience [...] liked as much or even more than his parodies." "You Make Me" is a song involving a person's desire to engage in strange or violent behavior compelled by the weirdness of another person. According to the liner notes of The Permanent Record, "It's about as close as [Yankovic has] ever come to writing a real love song." Musically, the song is a style parody of Oingo Boingo.
"Melanie" is a stalker's twisted love song to his neighbor Melanie. According to Yankovic, he wrote several additional verses for "Melanie" that he would only sing to his friends. "Velvet Elvis" is written in the style of the Police, and is an ode to the kitschy type of titular painting. "Twister" is an ode to the Milton Bradley game Twister. The song is a style parody of Beastie Boys. When Yankovic was recording the song, he initially recorded about 20 vocal takes. However, when it came time to pick the right take, he opted for the first because it sounded "more raw and more off-the-cuff." The album's closer, "Good Old Days" is about a psychopath fondly remembering his childhood. Yankovic described the song as an "experiment". He "wanted to see if [he] could write a song as if Charlie Manson and James Taylor were collaborating."
=== Parodies ===
On February 18, 1988, Yankovic began recording four of the album's five parodies: "I Think I'm a Clone Now", "Alimony", "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", and "Fat". The first of these is a spoof of on Tiffany's 1987 cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" that recounts the story of a man who lives with a clone of himself. "Alimony"—a parody of "Mony Mony" as covered by Billy Idol—is a musical diatribe aimed at the narrator's ex-wife, who has taken everything he owns for alimony payments. Although "Alimony" sounds as if it were recorded live—complete with clapping, screaming, and yelling—the track was entirely recorded in the studio. "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" is a send up of James Ray's "Got My Mind Set on You" as performed by George Harrison of the Beatles about a song that does not have enough lyrics to fill 3 minutes worth of time. With the exception of "Fat", all of the album's parodies are based on songs originally released in the 1950s and 1960s that were covered and became popular in the 1980s.
When it came time to record a lead single, Yankovic once again turned his attention to Michael Jackson. Jackson had just released his album Bad, a follow-up to 1982's immensely successful album Thriller. After Yankovic first heard the lead single, "Bad", he immediately envisioned a parody entitled "Fat". Initially, Yankovic did not want to record another Jackson parody. He later said, "I was still primarily known as the 'Eat It' guy and I didn't want to become known as the guy who just rides Michael's coattails." He later relented and sought out Jackson for permission. Jackson, a fan of Yankovic's work, had already let Yankovic parody his 1983 hit single "Beat It". When presented with the new potential parody, Jackson not only approved it, but let Yankovic use his own Moonwalker subway set for the music video. Yankovic later presented Jackson with a gold record of Even Worse after the album sold over 500,000 copies. Jackson was so pleased with the song and video, he ordered twelve copies to give to his friends. Yankovic later said, "He doesn't have to let me do this kind of stuff. [...] The only reason he would let me is because he has a great sense of humor."
The music video for the song features a leather-clad Yankovic "expanding to 800 pounds and bouncing around a subway set." To find suitable back-up dancers, ads were placed in Los Angeles newspapers for "Very Fat Dancers". One of the men used in the video was actually a pizza delivery man who had delivered food to the casting offices. Due to the music video, "Fat" became one of Yankovic's biggest hits. Although only managing to peak at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song's music video got extensive play on MTV, which helped the album attain platinum status. In addition, "Fat" was later nominated and won a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video at the 1989 Grammy Awards, Yankovic's second Grammy Award.
On February 19, 1988, Yankovic began recording the album's final parody: "Lasagna", a take on the traditional folk song "La Bamba". The song is mainly about Italian culture with a heavy emphasis on cuisine. When Yankovic began writing the song, he originally wanted it to be sung in Italian. He later said, "I was actually going through Italian phrase books and dictionaries until I realized that the humor would be lost on 99% of the audience, so I decided to do the whole thing in English but with kind of a bad Italian accent." Although "Lasagna" is a parody of the Los Lobos cover version of "La Bamba", Yankovic did not seek permission from the band to record his spoof, given that "La Bamba" is a traditional folk song with no attributable writer. In the liner notes to Even Worse, Yankovic is thus given sole credit for writing "Lasagna".
According to the Dallas Morning News, both Prince and George Michael turned down parody ideas that Yankovic asked permission to record for Even Worse. In addition, Even Worse did not contain a polka medley, Yankovic's second—after his debut—and last album not to include one. The album was originally set to include a polka of all U2 songs, but was left off the album due to licensing issues.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
Even Worse has received relatively favorable reviews. AllMusic awarded Even Worse four out of five stars, one of the highest ratings for Yankovic on the site. Reviewer Eugene Chadbourne said, "Trust Weird Al Yankovic to name an album Even Worse even as his recordings were getting better again." Bruce Britt of Daily News of Los Angeles praised the album, and wrote that "It is tempting to dismiss 'Weird Al' Yankovic as a joke [...] but those who dismiss Yankovic so easily overlook the fact that his lampoons are often wittier than the songs he spoofs." Many critics praised the lead single, "Fat". Chadbourne wrote that "the arrogance of 'I'm Bad' [sic] was perfectly trumped by Yankovic's musical pile of lard, the appeal of the video's visuals clearly not the only ace in the hole." Britt called the song and video "so absurd, they are almost certain to be a hit this spring."
Unlike previous albums, which were praised for their parodies but criticized for their originals, Chadbourne wrote that "Yankovic even manages to shatter all previous barriers and comes up with some funny original material as well," citing "Good Old Days" and "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White" as some of his best originals. Both Even Worse and "Fat" were nominated for Grammys. Although Even Worse was not a winner, "Fat" won a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video in 1989.
=== Commercial performance ===
Even Worse was released April 12, 1988, and, at the time of its release, was Yankovic's best-selling album. Even Worse peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 on July 2, 1988. The album spent a total of 26 weeks on the chart. On July 18, 1988—less than three months after its release—the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). On January 27, 1994, the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA. At the time of its certification, it was Yankovic's first Platinum record and, until the release of Off the Deep End in 1992, it was his best-selling album.
On May 21, 1988, Yankovic appeared as a contestant on the game show Family Double Dare to promote Even Worse.
== Track listing ==
== Personnel ==
Credits adapted from LP liner notes.
Band members
"Weird Al" Yankovic – lead and background vocals, keyboards, accordion
Jim West – guitars, mandolin, background vocals
Steve Jay – bass guitar, background vocals
Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
Kim Bullard – synthesizers
Rick Derringer – guitar
Joe Sublett – saxophone
Ronny Jay – scratching
Nicolette Larson – background vocals
Technical
Rick Derringer – producer
"Weird Al" Yankovic – arranger
Tony Papa – engineer, mixing
Jamey Dell – assistant engineer
Tony Lane – art direction
Nancy Donald – art direction
Sam Emerson – photography
Christine Wilson – Even Worse lettering
== Charts ==
== Certifications == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_records_in_swimming | List of Olympic records in swimming | The International Olympic Committee recognises the fastest performances in pool-based swimming events at the Olympic Games. Men's swimming has been part of the official program of the Summer Olympics since the Games' modern inception in 1896; it was not until 1912 that women's events were held. The swimming events at the 1896 Olympic Games were held in a bay in the Aegean Sea with swimmers being required to swim to the shore—Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajós won two gold medals that year, saying "My will to live completely overcame my desire to win." The 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris had the swimming events take place in the River Seine, and the events at the 1908 Summer Olympics were held in a 100-metre pool surrounded by an athletics track in the White City Stadium in London.
Races are held in four swimming categories: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, over varying distances and in either individual or relay race events. Medley swimming races are also held, both individually and in relays, in which all four swimming categories are used. In the Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, both men and women competed in eighteen events in the pool. Of the 35 pool-based events, swimmers from the United States hold fifteen records, Australia five, France four, China, Canada and South Africa two each, and one each to Ireland, Great Britain, Russian Olympic Committee, Hungary, and Sweden. Nineteen of the current Olympic records were set at the 2024 Summer Olympics, seven in 2020, five in 2016, one in 2012, and three in 2008.
== Men's records ==
♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2024 Olympics and include only those events which are currently recognised by the IOC as Olympic events.
== Women's records ==
♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2024 Olympics and include only those events which are currently recognised by the IOC as Olympic events.
== Mixed records ==
♦ denotes a performance that is also a current world record. Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2024 Olympics and include only those events which are currently recognised by the IOC as Olympic events.
== Footnotes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_(original) | Apple II (original) | The Apple II (stylized as apple ][) is a personal computer released by Apple Inc. in June 1977. It was one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputer products and is widely regarded as one of the most important personal computers of all time due to its role in popularizing home computing and influencing later software development.
The Apple II was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak. The system is based around the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor. Jerry Manock designed the foam-molded plastic case, Rod Holt developed the switching power supply, while Steve Jobs was not involved in the design of the computer. It was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists.
Byte magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, the Apple logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors.
The Apple II was the first in a series of computers collectively referred to by the Apple II name. It was followed by the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIc Plus, and the 16-bit Apple IIGS—all of which remained compatible. Production of the last available model, the Apple IIe, ceased in November 1993.
== History ==
By 1976, Steve Jobs had convinced product designer Jerry Manock (who had formerly worked at Hewlett Packard designing calculators) to create the "shell" for the Apple II—a smooth case inspired by kitchen appliances that concealed the internal mechanics. The earliest Apple II computers were assembled in Silicon Valley and later in Texas; printed circuit boards were manufactured in Ireland and Singapore. The first computers went on sale on June 10, 1977 with an MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz (2⁄7 of the NTSC color subcarrier), two game paddles (bundled until 1980, when they were found to violate FCC regulations), 4 KiB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of monochrome, uppercase-only text on the screen (the original character set matches ASCII characters 20h to 5Fh), with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a video monitor or on a regular TV set (by way of a separate RF modulator).
The original retail price of the computer with 4 KiB of RAM was US$1,298 (equivalent to $6,900 in 2025) and with the maximum 48 KiB of RAM, it was US$2,638 (equivalent to $14,020 in 2025) To reflect the computer's color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing has rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple's corporate logo until early 1998. Perhaps most significantly, the Apple II was a catalyst for personal computers across many industries; it opened the doors to software marketed at consumers.
Certain aspects of the system's design were influenced by Atari, Inc.'s arcade video game Breakout (1976), which was designed by Wozniak, who said: "A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now". This included his design of color graphics circuitry, the addition of game paddle support and sound, and graphics commands in Integer BASIC, with which he wrote Brick Out, a software clone of his own hardware game. Wozniak said in 1984: "Basically, all the game features were put in just so I could show off the game I was familiar with—Breakout—at the Homebrew Computer Club. It was the most satisfying day of my life [when] I demonstrated Breakout—totally written in BASIC. It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world."
== Overview ==
In the May 1977 issue of Byte, Steve Wozniak published a detailed description of his design; the article began, "To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use, and inexpensive."
The Apple II used peculiar engineering shortcuts to save hardware and reduce costs, such as:
Taking advantage of the way the 6502 processor accesses memory: it occurs only on alternate phases of the clock cycle; video generation circuitry memory access on the otherwise unused phase avoids memory contention issues and interruptions of the video stream;
This arrangement simultaneously eliminated the need for a separate refresh circuit for DRAM chips, as video transfer accessed each row of dynamic memory within the timeout period. In addition, it did not require separate RAM chips for video RAM, while the PET and TRS-80 had SRAM chips for video;
Apart from the 6502 CPU and a few support chips, the vast majority of the semiconductors used were 74LS low-power Schottky chips;
Rather than use a complex analog-to-digital circuit to read the outputs of the game controller, Wozniak used a simple timer circuit, built around a quad 555 timer IC called a 558, whose period is proportional to the resistance of the game controller, and he used a software loop to measure the timers;
A single 14.31818 MHz master oscillator (fM) was divided by various ratios to produce all other required frequencies, including microprocessor clock signals (fM/14), video transfer counters, and color-burst samples (fM/4). A solderable jumper on the main board allowed to switch between European 50 Hz and USA 60 Hz video.
The text and graphics screens have a complex arrangement. For instance, the scanlines were not stored in sequential areas of memory. This complexity was reportedly due to Wozniak's realization that the method would allow for the refresh of dynamic RAM as a side effect (as described above). This method had no cost overhead to have software calculate or look up the address of the required scanline and avoided the need for significant extra hardware. Similarly, in high-resolution graphics mode, color is determined by pixel position and thus can be implemented in software, saving Wozniak the chips needed to convert bit patterns to colors. This also allowed the ability to draw text with subpixel rendering, since orange and blue pixels appear half a pixel-width farther to the right on the screen than green and purple pixels.
The Apple II at first used data cassette storage, like most other microcomputers of the time. In 1978, the company introduced an external 5+1⁄4-inch floppy disk drive, called Disk II (stylized as Disk ][), attached through a controller card that plugs into one of the computer's expansion slots (usually slot 6). The Disk II interface, created by Wozniak, is regarded as an engineering masterpiece for its economy of electronic components.
The approach taken in the Disk II controller is typical of Wozniak's designs. With a few small-scale logic chips and a cheap PROM (programmable read-only memory), he created a functional floppy disk interface at a fraction of the component cost of standard circuit configurations.
== Case design ==
The first production Apple II computers had hand-molded cases; these had visible bubbles and other lumps in them from the imperfect plastic molding process, which was soon switched to machine molding. In addition, the initial case design had no vent openings, causing high heat buildup from the printed circuit board (PCB) and resulting in the plastic softening and sagging. Apple added vent holes to the case within three months of production; customers with the original case could have them replaced at no charge.
== PCB revisions ==
The Apple II's printed circuit board (PCB) underwent several revisions, as Steve Wozniak made modifications to it. The earliest version was known as Revision 0, and the first 6,000 units shipped used it. Later revisions added a "color killer" circuit to prevent color fringing when the computer was in text mode, as well as modifications to improve the reliability of cassette I/O. Revision 0 Apple IIs powered up in an undefined mode and had garbage on-screen, requiring the user to press Reset. This was eliminated in later board revisions. Revision 0 Apple IIs could display only four colors in hi-res mode, but Wozniak was able to increase this to six hi-res colors on later board revisions. (Technically it was eight, but only six were visible.)
Apple II PCBs have three RAM banks for a total of 24 RAM chips. Original Apple IIs had jumper switches to adjust RAM size, and RAM configurations could be 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 36, or 48 KiB. The three smallest memory configurations used 4kx1 DRAMs, with larger ones using 16kx1 DRAMs, or mix of 4-kilobyte and 16-kilobyte banks (the chips in any one bank have to be the same size). The early Apple II+ models retained this feature, but after a drop in DRAM prices, Apple redesigned the circuit boards without the jumpers, so that only 16kx1 chips were supported. A few months later, they started shipping all machines with a full 48 KiB complement of DRAM.
Unlike most machines, all integrated circuits on the Apple II PCB were socketed; this cost more to manufacture and created the possibility of loose chips causing a system malfunction, but it was considered preferable to make servicing and replacement of bad chips easier.
The Apple II PCB lacks any means of generating an interrupt request, although expansion cards may generate one. Program code had to stop everything to perform any I/O task; like many of the computer's other idiosyncrasies, this was due to cost reasons and Steve Wozniak assuming interrupts were not needed for gaming or using the computer as a teaching tool.
== Display and graphics ==
Color on the Apple II series uses a quirk of the NTSC television signal standard, which made color display relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. The original NTSC television signal specification was black and white. Color was added later by adding a 3.58-megahertz subcarrier signal that was partially ignored by black-and-white TV sets. Color is encoded based on the phase of this signal in relation to a reference color burst signal. The result is that the position, size, and intensity of a series of pulses define color information. These pulses can translate into pixels on the computer screen, with the possibility of exploiting composite artifact colors.
The Apple II display provides two pixels per subcarrier cycle. When the color burst reference signal is turned on and the computer is attached to a color display, it can display green by showing one alternating pattern of pixels, magenta with an opposite pattern of alternating pixels, and white by placing two pixels next to each other. Blue and orange are available by tweaking the pixel offset by half a pixel-width in relation to the color-burst signal. The high-resolution display offers more colors by compressing more (and narrower) pixels into each subcarrier cycle.
The coarse, low-resolution graphics display mode works differently, as it can output a pattern of dots per pixel to offer more color options. These patterns are stored in the character generator ROM, and replace the text character bit patterns when the computer is switched to low-res graphics mode. The text mode and low-res graphics mode use the same memory region and the same circuitry is used for both.
A single HGR page occupied 8 KiB of RAM; in practice this meant that the user had to have at least 12 KiB of total RAM to use HGR mode and 20 KiB to use two pages. Early Apple II games from the 1977–1979 period often ran only in text or low-resolution mode in order to support users with small memory configurations; HGR not being near universally supported by games until 1980.
== Sound ==
Rather than a dedicated sound-synthesis chip, the Apple II contains a toggle circuit that can only emit a click through a built-in speaker or a line-out jack. More complex sounds, such as music or audio samples, are generated by software manually toggling the speaker at an appropriate frequency. This technique requires careful and precise timing, rendering it difficult to display moving graphics while sound is playing. Third party expansion cards were later released that addressed this problem.
A similar technique is used for cassette storage: cassette output works the same as the speaker, and input uses a simple zero-crossing detector as a 1-bit audio digitizer. Routines in machine ROM encode and decode data in frequency-shift keying for the cassette.
== Programming languages ==
Initially, the Apple II was shipped with Integer BASIC encoded in the motherboard ROM chips. Written by Wozniak, the interpreter enabled users to write software applications without needing to purchase additional development utilities. Written with game programmers and hobbyists in mind, the language only supported the encoding of numbers in 16-bit integer format. Since it only supported integers between -32768 and +32767 (signed 16-bit integer), it was less suitable to business software, and Apple soon received complaints from customers. Because Steve Wozniak was busy developing the Disk II hardware, he did not have time to modify Integer BASIC for floating point support. Apple instead licensed Microsoft's 6502 BASIC to create Applesoft BASIC.
Disk users normally purchased a so-called Language Card, which had Applesoft in ROM, and was located below the Integer BASIC ROM in system memory. The user could switch between either BASIC by typing FP or INT in BASIC prompt. Apple also offered a different version of Applesoft for cassette users, which occupied low memory, and was started by using the LOAD command in Integer BASIC.
As shipped, Apple II incorporated a machine code monitor with commands for displaying and altering the computer's RAM, either one byte at a time, or in blocks of 256 bytes at once. This enabled programmers to write and debug machine code programs without further development software. The computer powers on into the monitor ROM, displaying a * prompt. From there, Ctrl+B enters BASIC, or a machine language program can be loaded from cassette. Disk software can be booted with Ctrl+P followed by 6, referring to Slot 6 which normally contained the Disk II controller.
A 6502 assembler was soon offered on disk, and later the UCSD compiler and operating system for the Pascal language were made available. The Pascal system requires a 16 KiB RAM card to be installed in the language card position (expansion slot 0) in addition to the full 48 KiB of motherboard memory.
== Manual ==
The first 1,000 or so Apple IIs shipped in 1977 with a 68-page mimeographed "Apple II Mini Manual", hand-bound with brass paper fasteners. This was the basis for the Apple II Reference Manual, which became known as the Red Book for its red cover, published in January 1978. All existing customers who sent in their warranty cards were sent free copies of the Red Book. The Apple II Reference Manual contained the complete schematic of the entire computer's circuitry, and a complete source listing of the "Monitor" ROM firmware that served as the machine's BIOS.
An Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs in 1980 with the inscription "Julian, your generation is the first to grow up with computers. Go change the world." sold at auction for $787,484 in 2021.
== Operating system ==
The original Apple II came with an 8 KiB ROM containing a BASIC variant called Integer BASIC as well as a resident monitor called the Apple System Monitor. Initially, only cassette tape was available for storage, which was considered too slow and unreliable for business use. In late 1977, Apple began to develop the Disk II floppy disk drive and required an operating system to utilize it. The existing standard at the time was CP/M, but due to incompatibility with the 6502 processor and a perceived clunkiness, Apple contracted Shepardson Microsystems for $13,000 to write Apple DOS. At Shepardson, Paul Laughton developed the software in just 35 days, a remarkably short deadline, even for the time. The Disk II and Apple DOS were released in late 1978. The final and most popular version of this software was Apple DOS 3.3.
Apple DOS was superseded by ProDOS, which supported a hierarchical filesystem and larger storage devices. With an optional third-party Z80-based expansion card, the Apple II could boot into the CP/M operating system and run WordStar, dBase II, and other CP/M software.
Apple released Applesoft BASIC in 1977, a more advanced variant of the language which users could run instead of Integer BASIC for more capabilities, such as the ability to use floating point numbers.
Some commercial Apple II software came on self-booting disks and did not use standard DOS disk formats. This discouraged the copying or modifying of the software on the disks, and improved loading speed.
== Third-party devices and applications ==
When the Apple II initially shipped in June 1977, no expansion cards were available for the slots. This meant that the user did not have any way of connecting a modem or a printer. One popular hack involved connecting a teletype machine to the cassette output.
Wozniak's open-architecture design and Apple II's multiple expansion slots permitted a wide variety of third-party devices, including peripheral cards, such as serial controllers, display controllers, memory boards, hard disks, networking components, and real-time clocks. There were plug-in expansion cards—such as the Z-80 SoftCard—that permitted Apple II to use the Z80 processor and run programs for the CP/M operating system, including the dBase II database and the WordStar word processor. The Z80 card also allowed the connection to a modem, and thereby to any networks that a user might have access to. In the early days, such networks were scarce. But they expanded significantly with the development of bulletin board systems in later years. There was also a third-party 6809 card that allowed OS-9 Level One to be run. Third-party sound cards greatly improved audio capabilities, allowing simple music synthesis and text-to-speech functions. Apple II accelerator cards doubled or quadrupled the computer's speed.
Early Apple IIs were often sold with a Sup'R'Mod, which allowed the composite video signal to be viewed in a television.
The Soviet Union radio-electronics industry designed Apple II-compatible computer Agat. Roughly 12,000 Agat 7 and 9 models were produced and they were widely used in Soviet schools. Agat 9 computers could run "Apple II" compatibility and native modes. "Apple II" mode allowed to run a wider variety of (presumably pirated) Apple II software, but at the expense of less RAM. Because of that Soviet developers preferred native mode over "Apple II" compatibility mode.
In 1978, Bob Bishop of Apple Computer, Inc. programmed 9 Apple II computers to run the gameboard on the TV game show Tic-Tac-Dough;. Each Apple was responsible for displaying various contents for each box of the gameboard (category, X, O, bonus game numbers and amounts, TIC, TAC or Dragon, as well displaying custom messages and an active screensaver), and in turn controlled by an Altair 8800 system. It was the first game show to use computerized graphics.
== Reception ==
Jesse Adams Stein wrote, "As the first company to release a 'consumer appliance' micro-computer, Apple Computer offers us a clear view of this shift from a machine to an appliance." But the company also had "to negotiate the attitudes of its potential buyers, bearing in mind social anxieties about the uptake of new technologies in multiple contexts. The office, the home and the 'office-in-the-home' were implicated in these changing spheres of gender stereotypes and technological development." After seeing a crude, wire-wrapped prototype demonstrated by Wozniak and Steve Jobs in November 1976, Byte predicted in April 1977, that the Apple II "may be the first product to fully qualify as the 'appliance computer' ... a completed system which is purchased off the retail shelf, taken home, plugged in and used". The computer's color graphics capability especially impressed the magazine. The magazine published a favorable review of the computer in March 1978, concluding: "For the user that wants color graphics, the Apple II is the only practical choice available in the 'appliance' computer class."
Personal Computer World in August 1978 also cited the color capability as a strength, stating that "the prime reason that anyone buys an Apple II must surely be for the colour graphics". While mentioning the "oddity" of the artifact colors that produced output "that is not always what one wishes to do", it noted that "no-one has colour graphics like this at this sort of price". The magazine praised the sophisticated monitor software, user expandability, and comprehensive documentation. The author concluded that "the Apple II is a very promising machine" which "would be even more of a temptation were its price slightly lower ... for the moment, colour is an Apple II".
Although it sold well from the launch, the initial market was to hobbyists and computer enthusiasts. Sales expanded exponentially into the business and professional market, when the spreadsheet program VisiCalc was launched in mid-1979. VisiCalc is credited as the defining killer app in the microcomputer industry.
By the end of 1977 Apple had sales of $775,000 for the fiscal year, which included sales of the Apple I. This put Apple clearly behind the others of the "holy trinity" of the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, even though the TRS-80 was launched last of the three. However, during the first five years of operations, revenues doubled about every four months. Between September 1977 and September 1980, annual sales grew from $775,000 to $118 million. During this period the sole products of the company were the Apple II and its peripherals, accessories, and software.
In 2006, PC World wrote that the Apple II was the greatest PC of all time. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Imagineering | Walt Disney Imagineering | Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc.—commonly referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineering, or WDI—is the research and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions worldwide. The company also operates Disney Live Entertainment and the Muppets Studio and manages Disney's properties, from Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to New Amsterdam Theatre and Times Square Studios Ltd. in New York City.
Founded on December 16, 1952 by Walt Disney to oversee the production of Disneyland Park, it was originally known as Walt Disney, Inc., then WED Enterprises, from the initials of "Walter Elias Disney", Disney's full name. Headquartered in Glendale, California, Imagineering is composed of "Imagineers", who are illustrators, architects, engineers, lighting designers, show writers and graphic designers.
The term "Imagineering", a portmanteau, was introduced in the 1940s by Alcoa to describe its blending of imagination and engineering, and used by Union Carbide in an in-house magazine in 1957, with an article by Richard F. Sailer called "BRAINSTORMING IS IMAGination engINEERING". Disney filed for a trademark for the term in 1989, claiming first use of the term in 1962. Imagineering is a registered trademark of Disney Enterprises, Inc.
== History ==
=== WED Enterprises ===
Walt Disney, Inc. (WDI) was formed by Walt Disney on December 16, 1952, with an engineering division tasked with designing Disneyland. In light of objections from his brother Roy O. Disney as well as those of potential stockholders, WDI was renamed WED Enterprises in 1953 based on Disney's initials. In 1961, WED moved into the Grand Central Business Park. WED Enterprises's theme park design and architectural group became so integral to the Disney studio's operations that Walt Disney Productions bought it on February 5, 1965, along with the WED Enterprises name.
=== Imagineering ===
The unit was renamed as of January 1986 to Walt Disney Imagineering. In 1996, Disney Development Company, the Disney conglomerate's real estate development subsidiary, merged into Imagineering.
Imagineering created Disney Fair, a U.S. traveling attraction, which premiered in September 1996. With poor attendance, the fair was pulled after a few stops. Disney Entertainment Projects (Asia Pacific), Inc., a new Disney Asian Pacific subsidiary, selected a renamed fair called DisneyFest as its first project, taking it to Singapore to open there on October 30, 1997.
By 1997, Imagineers were in several buildings in Grand Central Business Park when Disney purchased the park. In September 1999, Disney Imagineering announced the Grand Central Creative Campus redesign of the industrial park with a new office-studio complex anchored by Disney Imagineering. Some of the buildings were demolished to make way for new buildings. The additional space would be for sound stages, production facilities and offices.
As part of the Walt Disney Company's March 2018 strategic reorganization, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts merged with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media segments into Disney Parks, Experiences and Products (DPEP), giving Disney Imagineering oversight of merchandise, games and publishing development.
In July 2021, DPEP chairman Josh D'Amaro announced that approximately 2,000 DPEP positions would be transferred over the next couple of years to the Lake Nona area of Orlando, Florida. In November 2021, it was reported that as many as 90% of the positions to be transferred are Walt Disney Imagineering positions, as DPEP relocates Imagineering's headquarters from Glendale to a new 60-acre corporate campus in Lake Nona. The only Imagineering positions reportedly exempt from relocation were those dedicated to Disneyland or certain international parks. The relocation was reportedly motivated in part by $570 million in tax breaks from the state of Florida, as well as Florida's business-friendly climate, lower cost of living, and lack of a state income tax. This relocation was cancelled in May 2023 amidst a feud with Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
== Principles ==
New concepts and improvements are often created to fulfill specific needs. For instance, the Soarin' Over California ride system was designed to help guests experience the sensation of flight. During development, Imagineer Mark Sumner found an erector set in his attic, which quickly inspired the solution to create this experience. The ride effectively simulates hang gliding. One of Imagineering's techniques, "blue sky speculation", is a process in which ideas are generated without limitations. Imagineers may develop a bold idea in extreme detail, initially disregarding budgetary or physical constraints. It can take up to five years for an idea to turn into a finished attraction. The company considers this the beginning of a design process, believing, "if it can be dreamt, it can be built".
WDI partnered with the Khan Academy to create a series of online video classes called Imagineering in a Box, to allow students to "explore different aspects of theme park design, from characters to ride development..." The classes, which are organized into three main categories (Creating Worlds, Designing Attractions, and Bringing Characters to Life), are presented by WDI employees using multimedia lessons and exercises.
=== The Imagineering Pyramid ===
Past Disney Imagineers have shared 15 principles of Disney Imagineering, divided into five tiers. These are:
Tier 1: Foundations of Imagineering
1. It All Begins with a Story
2. Creative Intent
3. Attention to Detail
4. Theming
5. Long, Medium, and Close Shots
Tier 2: Wayfinding
6. Wienies
7. Transitions
8. Storyboards
9. Pre-Shows and Post-Shows
Tier 3: Visual Communication
10. Forced Perspective
11. "Read"-ability
12. Kinetics
Tier 4: Making It Memorable
13. The "It's a Small World" Effect
14. Hidden Mickeys
Tier 5: Walt’s Cardinal Rule
15. Plussing
Walt Disney coined the term "plussing" for the process of constantly striving to perfect Imagineering work. Disney believed that there is always room for innovation and improvement, stating, "Disneyland will never be completed as long as there's imagination left in the world." This sometimes takes the form of returning to previously abandoned ideas, such as the rework of the Museum of the Weird wax museum concept into the present The Haunted Mansion.
=== The Art of the Show ===
Disney theme parks are storytelling and visual experiences, also known as “The Art of the Show.” The use of theming, atmosphere, and attention to detail are essential in the Disney experience. Creative director John Hench noted the similarities between theme park design and film making, such as the use of techniques, including forced perspective. One example of forced perspective is Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. The scale of architectural elements is much smaller in the upper reaches of the castle compared to the foundation, making it seem significantly taller than its actual height of 189 feet.
The attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, evokes a “rollicking buccaneer adventure,” according to Hench. In contrast, the Disney Cruise Line ships create an elegant seafaring atmosphere. Minor details in theme park shops and restaurants are crucial; these include the menus, names of the dishes and the Cast Members’ costumes. When guests walk down the area of Main Street, U.S.A., they are likely to notice a bakery fragrance, reminiscent of suburban America in the 1900s. In addition to theme parks, Imagineering has devised retail stores, galleries, and hotels which have "stories" and create a specific mood. For instance, the Disney's Contemporary Resort features an A-frame structure, modern décor and futuristic features including a quiet monorail in the lobby. These details reinforce the hotel's contemporary nature.
In 2010, Disney Educational Products produced a series of videos called The Science of Disney Imagineering. Each video was presented by Imagineer Asa Kalama and focused on a different science subject. Each video featured at least one Disney attraction, to show how science was used in them. These science subjects include Gravity, Trajectory, Levers & Pulleys, Fluids, Energy, Design & Models, Magnetism, Motion, Animal Adaptations: Communication, Friction, and Electricity.
=== Mickey's Ten Commandments ===
In 1991, Marty Sklar (then-president of Imagineering) presented ten commandments attributed to Mickey Steinberg (the vice president of Imagineering). They are:
Know your audience
Wear your guest's shoes (don't forget the human factors; try to experience the parks from the guests' point of view)
Organize the flow of people and ideas (ensure experiences tell a story that is organized and logically laid out)
Create a "Wienie" (Walt Disney's term for a "visual magnet")
Communicate with visual literacy (use a dominant color or shape or building to reinforce a theme)
Avoid overload—create turn-ons (do not offer too much detailed information)
Tell one story at a time (put one 'big idea' in each show so guests leave with a clear understanding of the theme)
Avoid contradictions—maintain identity (avoid irrelevant or contradicting elements; make sure the audience has a clear idea of what is being said)
For every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of treat (take advantage of the distinction of the theme park, which is that it encourages active participation, compared to passive entertainment)
Keep it up (do not become complacent or allow things to run down)
== Innovation ==
Imagineering has been granted over 300 patents in areas such as advanced audio systems, fiber optics, interactive technology, live entertainment, ride systems and special effects. Imagineering pioneered technological advances such as the Circle-Vision 360° film technique and the FastPass virtual queuing system.
=== Audio-Animatronics ===
Imagineering is known for its development of Audio-Animatronics, a form of robotics, used in shows and theme park attractions that animate objects in three dimension (3D). The idea originated from Walt Disney's fascination with a mechanical bird that he purchased in New Orleans, which later led to the development of the attraction, The Enchanted Tiki Room. The attraction, which featured singing Audio-Animatronic birds, was the first to use this technology. In the 1964 World's Fair, a 3D figure of Abraham Lincoln was represented. The animated Lincoln delivered part of the Gettysburg Address for the "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" exhibit, the first human Audio-Animatronic figure.
Today, Audio-Animatronics are featured in many attractions, including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, The Hall of Presidents, Country Bear Musical Jamboree, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Some Audio-Animatronics figures can interact with park guests, such as Mr. Potato Head at Toy Story Mania!.
=== WEDway ===
WEDway is a people mover system using linear induction motor (LIM) technology to propel vehicles along a pair of steel rails. This system was developed in the company's early years. The system is in operation at Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, United States. From 1967 to 1995, Disneyland utilized a version of this system which had rubber wheels placed every 9 feet along the guide-way.
== Projects developed by Imagineering ==
Since 1952, Imagineering has created twelve theme parks, a town, eight cruise ships, dozens of resort hotels, water parks, shopping centers, sports complexes and various entertainment venues.
=== Current Imagineering projects ===
== Other projects ==
Former creative director John Hench designed the "Tower of Nations" for the opening and closing ceremony of the 1960 Winter Olympics, whilst Walt Disney served as Pageantry Committee chairman.
Imagineering has collaborated with Disney Consumer Products on a number of projects for Disney Stores. The first store, in Glendale, was designed and constructed by a group of architectural Imagineers. Imagineering developed the now-defunct Walt Disney Gallery at the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana, California, and a Roman themed Disney Store at The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas. After the purchase of the Disney Stores by The Children's Place in 2004, Imagineering helped design an exclusive chain of flagship stores, called World of Disney. These are located in resorts, Lake Buena Vista, Florida and Anaheim, California, as well as New York City. Another flagship store arrived at Disneyland Paris in 2012. An overhaul of Disney Stores was planned in 2009 with the help of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Disney hoped to transition from a traditional retail model to an interactive entertainment hub.
In the 1990s, Imagineering designed the 24,000 square feet (2,200 m2) Club Disney interactive family fun center in Thousand Oaks, California. Although now closed, it was the first of several location-based entertainment (LBE) venues. In 1998, DisneyQuest, an 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) high-tech, virtual reality arcade was launched at Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Another DisneyQuest in Chicago was launched a year later. In 2007, Imagineering oversaw design and construction of ships, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. They also helped design exhibitions for the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles and developed the Encounter Restaurant, which is located at the top of Theme Building in Los Angeles International Airport. Moreover, they provided exhibits for the Port Discovery children's museum at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the "Below Deck" sound show depicting Blackbeard's final battle as part of the Pirate and Treasure Museum in St. Augustine, Florida.
From 1995 to 1997, Imagineering oversaw the renovation of the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. Imagineering also remodeled the Times Square Studios in New York City in 1996, following the acquisition of ABC. In 1997, Disney purchased the California Angels and renamed the team to Anaheim Angels. Shortly after, Imagineering renovated the Anaheim Stadium. Imagineering worked with a charity, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, to create the teaser video and the story, as well as the theming of the 2016 FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Stronghold.
== Corporate locations ==
Since the 1960s, Imagineering's headquarters have been located in nondescript office buildings on the site of the former Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California, about two miles (3.2 km) east of Disney's corporate headquarters in Burbank. Many of these employees were set to be relocated to a new facility in Lake Nona, Orlando, Florida, however the move was canceled in May 2023 amid employee objections and disputes with Florida's state government. There are field offices at Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort. There are also offices located at:
Walt Disney Imagineering Disneyland Field Office, Disneyland Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort Administration Building, Tokyo Disney Resort
Walt Disney Imagineering Hong Kong Site Office, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Walt Disney Imagineering Germany GmbH, Meyer Werft Papenburg, Germany |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Broncos#1994%E2%80%932005:_Broncos_and_Super_League | London Broncos#1994–2005: Broncos and Super League | The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and compete in the Betfred Championship.
Whilst the club has never won a major trophy, they have finished second in the League Championship once and have been Challenge Cup runners-up once. They have also won the Championship Grand Final, to gain promotion to the Super League, on two occasions.
Originally formed as Fulham Rugby League Club in 1980, they have also previously been known as London Crusaders and Harlequins Rugby League. London's home colours are black, red and white.
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Professional rugby league was briefly represented in London during the 1930s by London Highfield (1933), Acton and Willesden (1935–36) and Streatham and Mitcham (1935–36). All these were speculative clubs set up by local businessmen specifically as money making exercises, and were ultimately driven out of business through poor finances. Thereafter, the sport of rugby league in England remained exclusively a northern based game for over forty years until the formation in 1980 of a new club in London, Fulham.
=== 1980–1991: Fulham R.L.F.C. ===
In June 1980, Fulham Football Club chairman Ernie Clay set up a rugby league team at Craven Cottage, with the primary intention of creating another income stream for the football club. Warrington director Harold Genders, who had helped to persuade Clay of the potential benefits of establishing a rugby league club in the capital, resigned from the Warrington board to become managing director of Fulham R.L.F.C. The Rugby Football League (RFL), keen to encourage the expansion of the sport beyond its traditional northern heartland, accepted the new club at once. One of the game's leading players, Reg Bowden, was recruited by Genders to act as player-coach and the club's first signing was Roy Lester, on a free transfer from Warrington. Within nine weeks, Genders and Bowden had assembled a team of very experienced players, most of whom were approaching retirement, together with a few promising youngsters.
The club's first match, on 14 September 1980, was a major success; nearly 10,000 Londoners attended the game at Craven Cottage to see the newly formed side convincingly beat highly regarded Wigan 24–5. On 15 February 1981, more than 15,000 were present to see Fulham take on Wakefield Trinity in the Challenge Cup, a club attendance record that still stands. The new Fulham RL team quickly proved to be very competitive and went on to win promotion at the end of their inaugural season. After that initial success, however, immediate relegation from the first division in 1981–82 was something of a reality check.
Fulham played two "home" games against Swinton and Huddersfield at Widnes in 1983 as the pitch at the Cottage had disintegrated in the wet winter following the collapse of the main drain to the River Thames under the Miller Stand.
The club also played several one-off games in 1983 at various football grounds around London; matches were played at Wealdstone's Lower Mead stadium, Hendon's Claremont Road ground, Brentford's Griffin Park and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge.
Despite winning the Division Two Championship comfortably in 1982–83, a second immediate relegation in 1983–84, coupled with continuing financial losses, saw Clay, under pressure from the Fulham football club board, pull the plug at the end of their fourth season. However, with the backing of supporters Roy and Barbara Close and the appointment of a new coach, former player Roy Lester, Fulham RL still had a future. Most of the existing players moved on as free agents, and a new squad began life based at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre for the 1984–85 season.
After a single season, the club then moved to a new home at Chiswick Polytechnic Sports Ground in the summer of 1985, and would remain there for five years. Bill Goodwin replaced Lester as coach from 1986 to 1987. In August 1986, Fulham hit a serious cash crisis and were forced to withdraw temporarily from the RFL only 11 days before the start of the season, but were able to re-launch in September. Bev Risman was appointed coach at Fulham in 1987. The team was in the bottom half of the second division and continually struggled for success, and Risman left after a couple of seasons and Bill Goodwin returned. Phil Sullivan was coach for just two months between January and February 1989, thereafter Goodwin came in for his third spell and held the reins until May 1989 when Ross Strudwick was appointed.
The club returned to the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in 1990, this time making it their home for three seasons.
In May 1991, York and Fulham toured Russia.
=== 1991–1994: London Crusaders ===
Prior to the start of the 1991–92 season the club's name was officially changed from Fulham RLFC to London Crusaders RLFC. A slightly more successful period on the pitch begun at this point. Ross Strudwick was replaced as coach by Darryl van der Velde in 1992 but continued as club manager until 1993.
In June 1993 the club moved once again, from Crystal Palace National Sports Centre to Barnet Copthall arena. In November 1993, London Crusaders imposed a 20% pay cut on all staff to ease financial problems. With the club in financial straights, the RFL briefly took ownership of the Crusaders in 1993–94 to protect their southern outpost, but the club were then acquired by new owners Britannic Shipping; Strudwick stepped down as manager to give the club's new owners a clean slate.
Despite the club's financial problems, the team proved very competitive on the pitch under coach Tony Gordon and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion back to the First Division by a single point. The climax of the Crusaders' era was a May 1994 appearance in the Divisional Premiership Final at Old Trafford; although they lost 22–30 to Workington Town, the club had gone into the game with the knowledge that an exciting take-over bid had just been announced.
=== 1994–2005: London Broncos ===
In the spring of 1994, just prior to the Divisional Premiership Final, it was announced that the successful Australian NRL club Brisbane Broncos was buying the London Crusaders club, which would be renamed London Broncos from the start of the forthcoming 1994–95 season. Gordon was replaced by a Brisbane coach, Gary Grienke. The first home game under the new Broncos name was against Keighley at Hendon F.C.'s ground at Claremont Road, though most home games were still played at Barnet Copthall.
For the 1995–96 season the club found another new home base, returning to south-west London at The Stoop Memorial Ground, home of Harlequins Rugby Union Club. Despite finishing fourth in the Second Division the previous season, London Broncos were selected by the RFL to be part of the radical new Super League competition scheduled to begin in the summer of 1996, on the basis that the RFL felt it was commercially essential for the sport's national profile to have a team based in the nation's capital. The regular 1995–96 season, deliberately made brief to accommodate for Super League, ran from August 1995 to January 1996 and saw London included together with the top ten teams from the 1994–95 First Division in a 'Centenary League Championship', effectively a "dry run" for Super League. Faced with much stronger opposition, London struggled and finished second from last.
The club moved once more prior to the start of the 1996 inaugural summer season of Super League, this time to south-east London to play at The Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, when eventual owner David Hughes initially became involved with the club. Former Brisbane Broncos coach Tony Currie was appointed to the role of head coach. The team performed far beyond initial expectations and eventually finished a highly creditable fourth, with Greg Barwick the top points scorer for the club. That season also brought the best London home attendances since the first season at Craven Cottage. Tony Rea retired from playing to take up the Chief Executive role at the club.
After only one season at The Valley, the club were on their way back to south-west London to play at the Stoop Memorial Ground again for the 1997 season. The second season of Super League saw an even greater improvement in the team's performance, finishing a remarkable second to the eventual champions, Bradford Bulls. This represents London's best ever final league position to date. Richard Branson's highly successful Virgin Group became the majority shareholders and primary sponsors of the club, and the immediate future looked very bright. Highlights that year included victories at the Stoop over Canberra in the World Club Challenge and comprehensive league victories against Bradford and Wigan.
In 1998, as part of rugby league's "on the road" scheme, London Broncos played Bradford Bulls at Tynecastle in Edinburgh in front of over 7,000 fans. Success continued in 1998 with a first appearance in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, losing to Wigan. Head coach Tony Currie left the club at the end of the 1998 Super League season and was replaced by Dan Stains.
In 1999, the club went one stage better in the Challenge Cup. Following a famous last-minute semi-final victory over Castleford, the Broncos reached the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium for the first time, but despite taking a shock early lead in the game and performing bravely, they were soundly defeated 52–16 by red-hot favourites Leeds.
The club returned to the Valley for the 2000 season, but sacked Stains after enduring a long losing streak. Tony Rea was appointed temporary joint head coach with Stains' assistant Les Kiss. Rea and Kiss managed to steer Broncos out of the slump. In 2000, the experienced John Monie was appointed Head Coach. Monie only stayed in the job until the last month of the 2000 Super League season with the club having had mediocre results during his tenure. Rea took over as caretaker coach until the end of the season and Broncos eventually reached mid-table security. Rea then resigned his Chief Executive role at the end of the 2000 season to become Head Coach on a full-time basis.
York made an approach to the Virgin Group to buy the London Broncos in August 2001, with the aim of buying a Super League place for a proposed merged club to be based in York under a new name, York Wasps. This attempt was thrown out when Richard Branson rebuffed the offer as 'ridiculous, and speculative at best'.
In 2002, fervent club supporter David Hughes purchased the majority shareholding from Virgin in a major restructuring of the club. The Broncos moved once again, to play their home matches at Griffin Park as tenants of Brentford FC. 2003 marked the club's first Super League playoff appearance, losing in the first round to St. Helens 24–6 at Knowsley Road.
The 2005 season was marked by significant activity off the pitch as the club welcomed new chairman and majority shareholder Ian Lenagan who had bought 65% of the shares. This was followed by the announcement of a partnership with Harlequins Rugby Union Club that saw the club return to The Stoop Memorial Ground, this time formally renamed as Harlequins RL and adopting the host club's kit and crest for the 2006 season.
=== 2006–2011: Harlequins Rugby League ===
Ian Lenagan became the majority shareholder in the London Broncos in July 2005 and within a week of his arrival, the team was formally renamed "Harlequins Rugby League". Press releases of the time suggested that this would make the combined club "a powerhouse in both codes" according to Mark Evans of the Union club and provide a "very, very strong future for rugby league in the capital" according to Lenagan. The arrangement between the clubs was described as a "long-term partnership".
At the time of the announcement there were many heralded benefits of the two clubs sharing and pooling resources; both clubs were to play at the same ground and have access to the training facilities at the Richardson Evans Playing Fields, Roehampton Vale. In practice, however, there was little or no integration between the rugby codes, no joint player development, and the administrative and commercial resource sharing amounted to the RU club merely allowing the RL club some shared office space.
The sole integration programme appeared to be a combined fund raising lottery – which folded long before the Rugby League club permanently left the Twickenham Stoop – and two "double header" match days. These were in 2006, in which the Union side played first, followed by the League side, but the lengthy two hour gap between fixtures was a deterrent to the Union supporters and the majority had left the ground before the kick-off of the League fixture. Plymouth Albion and Leeds Carnegie were the Union opponents for the Union team whilst the Rugby League team played Huddersfield and St Helens.
On the field, the Harlequins RL club started with an encouraging 8,213 watching the home game against St Helens on 11 February 2006 but a heavy loss was followed by further consecutive home losses against Wakefield and Castleford, before a thumping 0–60 home defeat to Leeds. It was not until the fifth home game in the season that the team won at the Twickenham Stoop against Catalans Dragons in round 9.
Whilst the club started with a goal of 5,500 average home ground attendance by mid 2007. the actual attendance average was around the 3,500 level.
A 38–18 loss against bottom of the table Catalan, who were in their first year in Super League, was followed by a close home defeat to a Wigan team after each team scored. Harlequins were at this point 9th out of 12.
On 8 July 2006, Ian Lenagan removed Tony Rea as head coach, and moved him "upstairs" to a position on the club's board of directors. In his place, Brian McDermott, an assistant coach at Leeds Rhinos, was appointed as head coach. Results at home improved, taking Harlequins RL to 7th place in Super League XI.
The 2007 season saw the team pull off an incredible opening win against St Helens and by 7 July the team was 5th in the table, but a collapse in form in the second half of the season – a recurring theme of the McDermott reign – saw the team win only once from eight matches to finish 9th.
At the end of the season, Ian Lenagan took over control of fellow Super League side Wigan Warriors and was given two years to sell his Harlequins shares.
In 2008, Harlequins RL got off to a good start, winning six from the first ten games, but as was customary a second half of the season collapse saw the club won only five from the last seventeen games to finish in 9th again.
In 2009, the club was playing very well in the early part of the season, which extended up until 12 June with ten wins from sixteen, but yet again the rest of the season proved miserable with one win from 12 seeing the club slide from 5th position to 11th.
Home supporters were particularly displeased with the 0–48 home loss to Castleford and the 0–36 half time score v Bradford.
By round 12 in 2010, the club had won only one game from the first eleven and were bottom of the table, meaning that McDermott had seen the team win just twice in twenty three games, and at half-time away at Wigan the team were losing 24–6 before pulling off their finest comeback as Harlequins RL to win 38–26. That result seemed to spur the team into life briefly, with three more wins from the next four, but after that there was an end-of-season collapse to join the start-of-season collapse.
The round 25 game at Catalan saw the Quins bottom of the table with Catalan on a similar points tally and the game looked likely to decide who would finish bottom. The Quins were winning 16–12 with just a couple of minutes to go when Catalan were over the line with ball in hand, but Will Sharp stripped the ball from the Dragons player and Quins managed to hold out for the win.
The final game under McDermott saw Harlequins lose to Warrington at home; 7 wins from his last 38 games.
It was a shock to Harlequins RL supporters to see McDermott's assistant take over but this bizarre decision seemed to be warranted as Rob Powell oversaw three wins from their first three matches, placing them at the top of the ladder.
Away wins at Leeds Rhinos and St Helens seemed to herald a new dawn, however, the club's run of success was ended with a club record 82–6 defeat to Warrington Wolves on 20 March 2011 and the team were within a try of losing by the all-time Super League record margin of −80 held by Salford City Reds.
After that the Harlequins only won two more games in the next six months and the Harlequins RL era drew to a close when the club played St Helens in their final game under that name on 10 September 2011.
=== 2012–2025: Return to London Broncos ===
The club announced on 1 November 2011 that it would be returning to the London Broncos name from the 2012 season. In addition, the team unveiled a new logo as well as new colours of black, light blue and silver. On 4 February, London Broncos played their first competitive match against St. Helens since reverting to that name. The game was won by St. Helens 34–24 in front of a 4,924 crowd, which was higher than all of their attendances in the year before. In the match, seven players made their debuts for the club.
In the 2012 season, the Broncos played two home games "on the road" away from the Twickenham Stoop, on 6 June vs Bradford at Leyton Orient FC's Brisbane Road, where they were narrowly beaten 22–29 in front of 2,844 fans, and on 20 June vs Hull F.C. at Gillingham FC's Priestfield Stadium, as recognition for the work Medway Dragons had done in growing rugby league in Kent. The game proved to be popular with 3,930 turning up to watch London narrowly beaten 12–14 by Hull.
Tony Rea was appointed as the club's head coach for a second time in August 2012 taking over from Rob Powell. In 2013, London Broncos used four venues for their home games with the majority being played at the Twickenham Stoop. On 8 June 2013, London once again played a home game at Priestfield Stadium, this time being heavily beaten 82–10 by Warrington in front of 3,041 fans. On 28 March, London had to play a home game at Esher RFC's ground at Molesey Road due to a waterlogged pitch at the Stoop. For the next home game on 6 April, Harlequins RU didn't allow London to use the Stoop due to a Heineken Cup game, forcing them to play Bradford at Adams Park in High Wycombe.
London Broncos had a successful Challenge Cup campaign in 2013, reaching the semi-finals for the first time since their Wembley appearance in 1999. In round 4, London beat part-timers Featherstone Rovers 24–12 and in round 5, defeated Bradford 25–16. In the quarter-finals, London Broncos beat part-timers Sheffield Eagles 29–10 to book a place in the semi-finals. On 27 July, London Broncos' dream of reaching the Wembley final for the second time came emphatically to an end with a televised 0–70 defeat by Wigan, a record score in a Challenge Cup semi-final.
On 29 June 2013, London Broncos announced the loan signing of Australian Jamie Soward until the end of the season. Soward quickly became a fans favourite with a man of the match performance on his debut v Salford (scoring a try and kicking five goals) and received a standing ovation from the crowd despite being defeated 30–44. Soward put in impressive performances in his short venture in England and in 9 games scored 67 points (5 tries, 23 goals, 1 drop goal).
The club's financial struggles were made evident when, on 20 November 2013, the club announced that it would have to enter administration in ten working days if a new owner was not found. On 3 December 2013, London Broncos announced, "The club will be instructing lawyers to file a further notice of intention to appoint administrators at court, which shall be effective for 10 business days". The club's saviour David Hughes later decided to carry on putting millions into the club.
On 13 December 2013, London Broncos announced a move to the Hive Stadium in Canons Park, the new home of Barnet F.C., from the start of the 2014 season. After London lost 21 players from their 2013 squad, they faced a huge task to build up their squad again with minimal finances. The Broncos managed to retain twelve players from 2013 and in the off season signed 16 players (five on loan) including Tongan international fullback Nesiasi Mataitonga and former England international hooker Scott Moore. Tony Rea quit as coach following Broncos' 11-game winless start to the new Super League season. Assistant coach Joey Grima became head coach, having been asked to take charge for the rest of the season and next.Rea replaced by Grima at Broncos. Despite several closely contested games in 2014, the team struggled throughout the season against teams with far more strength in depth and much greater financial resources, and finished the season bottom of the Super League table, with only one win.
A supporters club (the LBSA) was founded in 2014 in order for fans to have a voice regarding their team. In July, at a pre-match lunch hosted by former Broncos Martin Offiah and Shaun Edwards, the LBSA announced its Hall of Fame, with six inaugural inductees: Reg Bowden, Peter Gill, Mark Johnson, Hussain M’Barki, Rob Purdham, Steele Retchless and Scott Roskell.
==== 2015–2018: Relegation to the Championship ====
On 13 July 2014, London Broncos were relegated from the Super League to the Championship after a 72–12 loss to Warrington.
The capital club had competed in all 19 Super League seasons and this was the club's first relegation since 1984 as Fulham RL and the first time the club competed in the second tier since 1995.
Relegation bought another mass exodus of players, with the club losing many key homegrown and non-homegrown players.
In the 2015 season, London Broncos had a poor season. Head Coach Joey Grima had issues with senior players like Foran, Cordoba, Mathers, Adamson and Lovegrove which meant that by about a third of the way into the season none were selectable. The club trained players went into the double digits that season but of them only Alex Walker and Matt Davis would be successful in the long run. As pressure built, Grima resigned leaving Andrew Henderson in charge. Henderson had too much to do and Broncos were a long way short of making the Super 8 play-offs that would have given them a chance of promotion back to Super League. However a surprise away win in the qualifiers at Dewsbury Rams saw the club make it to the Championship Shield Grand Final in Widnes but they were heavily beaten 36–4 by Featherstone Rovers.
In 2016, London Broncos moved to Ealing having signed a three-year deal to play at the Trailfinders Sports Ground, home of rugby union side Ealing Trailfinders. On 3 July, the Broncos beat Dewsbury 36–6 to secure a place in the Qualifiers against the bottom 4 Super League teams for promotion. Henderson signed Penrith Panthers playmaker Jamie Soward, who had previously played for the Broncos in 2013, until the end of the season. London Broncos finished 2nd in the Championship heading into the Qualifiers for a place in the Super League. The Broncos started the Qualifiers with a narrow 34–30 away loss to Leigh. London then won their first game in the competition, setting a record club score victory over Batley 76–16 at the Trailfinders Sports Ground. The following week, Henderson's team put in a gutsy performance despite going down 28–42 to Leeds in front of a record rugby league crowd at the ground of 1,845 in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
In 2017 the Broncos again finished second and reached the qualifiers for a second consecutive year. The team put in several impressive performances including a close 38–40 loss against Warrington Wolves; lost by just two points against Catalans Dragons away and came within six points of beating Hull KR. However the last two games were both hammerings whilst Broncos also blew the lead against Featherstone to draw on the hooter and only actually beat Halifax. Shortly after the season finished Andrew Henderson, who had successfully managed the club through a troubled period, left to help manage Warrington Wolves.
Danny Ward was promoted to Head Coach and in 2018 the Broncos got off to a flying start with seven wins in a row to go first in the Championship table with five straight wins, breaking their previous record for the best start to a season with a 68–12 home victory over Batley Bulldogs. A mid-season slump saw the club needing an improbable sequence of results to make the play-offs but six wins and a draw from the last seven saw the club achieve exactly that and make Super 8s – the Qualifiers.
==== 2018–2025: Promotion and subsequent relegation ====
Following a strong 2018 campaign in the Championship, Danny Ward carried off the Championship Head Coach of the Year Award at the end of season awards dinner held at the Principal Hotel in Manchester. The Broncos finished second in the regular season and commenced their Super 8s – Qualifiers campaign with a one-point win over the Widnes Vikings in which Jarrod Sammut kicked a vital 79th minute drop goal to secure the victory. This good start was followed up with key victories over Salford, Toulouse and Halifax to leave the Broncos with 8 points in the Qualifiers table sitting in fifth behind the Toronto Wolfpack in fourth, which meant London faced the Wolfpack away at the Lamport Stadium in Toronto on 7 October 2018 to decide the final Super League place in the so-called 'Million Pound Game'. London won a very tense and defensive game 4–2, thus earning promotion to Super League for the 2019 season. However, in spite of handing table leaders St Helens two of their three losses in the 2019 season, and several other notable wins against stronger opponents, Broncos were relegated after only one season back in the top flight, after losing their final game of the season to Wakefield.
With the entire 2020 Championship season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the RFL advised the Broncos that their present ground at Ealing would be deemed as unsuitable for top level matches should they return to the Super League, so in December 2020 the club entered into discussions with AFC Wimbledon to groundshare at their newly built Plough Lane stadium in Wimbledon. The agreement was confirmed in mid July 2021 and the club played its first game at its new home in January 2022, a pre-season friendly against Widnes.
In the 2022 RFL Championship season, London started poorly and for most of the season were in the relegation zone. The club managed to win four of their last ten matches in the league to avoid relegation and finish 11th on the table.
The 2023 RFL Championship season saw London finish 5th in the table and qualify for the playoffs. They would go on to defeat Sheffield in the opening playoff game and then beat league leaders Featherstone, who had finished 18 points above them in the regular season, to reach the playoff final. London would then go on to upset Toulouse Olympique in the Million Pound Game 18–14 to seal a spectacular return to the Super League.
London started the 2024 Super League season with ten consecutive losses where they conceded nearly 40 points a game. London earned their first win in round 11 against fellow strugglers Hull F.C., recording a 34–18 victory. Further victories came in an upset against play-off chasers Catalans Dragons and the return fixture against Hull F.C. The Broncos finished bottom of the table on the final day of the season, following a 0–54 defeat to Warrington Wolves, having entered the matchweek one point difference higher than Hull F.C. At the end of the season, David Hughes, who had owned and funded the club for 27 years, announced he was walking away from the club. From October 2024, discussions and crowdfunding efforts began to save the club from closure and continue a professional rugby league presence in London. On 24 October 2024, London were relegated back to the Championship through the IMG grading system.
=== 2026: Rebranding and Super League bid ===
The club was purchased in April 2025 by former Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington, who planned to develop a new ownership group for the 2026 season, and reinstate the London Player Academy. Australian sports advisory firm Freshwater Strategy compiled a 110-page strategy and a ten-point plan.
In September 2025, former Brisbane Broncos captain, Darren Lockyer and businessman Grant Wechsel purchased a 90% share of the London Broncos, with the aim of being one of the two new expansion teams for the 2026 Super League. The new consortium is backed by the Brisbane Broncos, rekindling a historic link between the two clubs dating back to the 1990s. Jason Demetriou was appointed head coach for the 2026–2027 seasons, with former head coach Mike Eccles becoming Director of Rugby. The Broncos signed Kangaroos prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Tongan international hooker Siliva Havili.
In October 2025, the club’s application to join the expanded 14-team Super League for the 2026 season was rejected by the IMG independent panel, which was led by Lord Caine and consisted of seven people, with the majority being RFL non-Executive Directors who were tied to, or paid by, the RFL. It could be suggested that this panel merely rubber stamped the top three teams who were not in Super League already as determined by the IMG ratings. Bradford gained a top ten IMG rating despite finishing no higher than third in the Championship, and were picked first, then York and Toulouse, leaving the Broncos to remain in the Betfred Championship League, despite the recent high-profile takeover and recruitment drive.
Following the decision, the club’s ownership group confirmed their commitment to the long-term vision, emphasising that they will compete in the Championship for the 2026 season with the goal of securing a Super League place in the future.
In November 2025, the club moved its training and administrative base to Hazelwood in Sunbury-on-Thames. The facility had been vacated by professional rugby union team London Irish who entered administration in 2023 and whose amateur teams are based at the facility.
The Broncos won their first match following the takeover 44–12 at home to Widnes Vikings on 18 January 2026. A week later, they set a new club record for largest victory in an 86–0 win against Wests Warriors in the Challenge Cup; this was the first time the club played a competitive fixture against another London team.
== Stadium ==
The Broncos have played home matches at numerous different grounds around London since the club's original formation. In 2021 they hoped to move their home ground to Plough Lane stadium in Wimbledon, as tenants of AFC Wimbledon, looking to agree a ten-year lease with break and extension clauses. Until an arrangement to use Plough Lane was reached, the club continued to play at Trailfinders Sports Ground. The Broncos finally began play at Plough Lane in 2022.
== Colours and badge ==
=== Colours ===
The original Fulham team wore an all black kit, with a broad white chevron, bordered with red, across the chest. As London Crusaders, the kit used the same colours, but in a variety of designs over the seasons. London Broncos wore red, yellow and blue also in a variety of styles, with red being the predominant colour for the last 5 years of their existence. When the club became known as Harlequins RL they adopted the colours of host rugby union side Harlequins. When the club returned to being known as the London Broncos, the home kit was black with a light blue trim and the reverse for the away kit. In 2015, the London Broncos reverted to their original Fulham colours, much to the approval of long-term fans, with their home kit being predominantly black with a broad white chevron and a red strip bordering the chevron. The away kit is predominantly red with a broad black chevron with white border. For the 2022 season, the club will play in blue and yellow, referencing the traditional colours of their new hosts in Wimbledon. The club have indicated that they will revert to black from 2023.
=== Badge ===
As Fulham RLFC, the club utilised the badge of the host football club, which at the time was the emblem of the local administrative borough, Hammersmith and Fulham. The first badge as London Broncos was a red and white crest with a horse's head on the front with London inscripted on the top. This was worn, with some minor adjustments, until 2006 when the club became known as Harlequins RL.
As Harlequins RL, the club crest was the same as that of the host rugby union team. This was used up until 2011.
In 2012, the club reverted to the name London Broncos and created a new crest, based on the original Broncos badge but featuring a horse's head in a modern stylised fashion, depicted in silver and blue.
== Kit sponsors and manufacturers ==
== 2026 squad ==
== 2026 transfers ==
=== Gains ===
=== Losses ===
=== Loans In ===
== Club officials ==
=== Backroom staff ===
Owners: Darren Lockyer, Grant Weschel
CEO: Gary Hetherington
Football Administrator: Dom Fenton
Head of Community & Player Welfare: John Keyes
Marketing & Commercial: Lynsey Coleman
=== Coaching staff ===
Director of Rugby & Performance: Mike Eccles
Head Coach: Jason Demetriou
Assistant Coach: Danny Ward
Head of Youth: Chris Baxter
Academy & Reserves Head Coach: Kieran Robertson
=== List of head coaches ===
Up to and including 1 March 2026.
== Seasons ==
=== Supporters' Player of the Year Awards ===
The London Broncos Supporters Association (LBSA) inaugurated the Fan's Player and Young Player of the Year awards in 2014, with Matt Cook and Joe Keyes the first winners. The award has been held every year, with the exception of the cancelled 2020 season. In 2022, a Women's Player of the Year was awarded for the first time.
== Honours ==
League
Division 1 / Super League:
Runners up (1): 1997
Division 2 / Championship:
Winners (2): 1982–83, 2023
Runners up (3): 2016, 2017, 2018
Million Pound Game:
Winners (1): 2018
Domestic Cups
Challenge Cup:
Runners up (1): 1999
== Player Records ==
Up to and including 25 January 2026. Current players appear in bold.
=== Most appearances ===
=== Most tries ===
=== Most goals ===
Of current players, Jimmy Meadows (№ 616) is highest on this list at 60th with 7 goals in 56 games.
=== Most points ===
Note: Tries scored before the 1983–84 season were worth 3pts
Of current players, Alex Walker (№ 567) is highest on this list at 14th with 346 points in 195 games.
=== Hall of Fame ===
In 2014, the LBSA launched the club's Hall of Fame, and announced seven inaugural inductees. As of 2019, the Hall of Fame has 11 members:
== Team Records ==
Up to and including 1 March 2026
Note: The attendance for the match against Trafford Borough on 7 January 1990 is unknown.
=== Biggest Wins ===
=== Biggest Defeats ===
=== Highest Home Attendances ===
=== Lowest Home Attendances ===
Note: This list does not include matches during the COVID-19 affected 2020 and 2021 seasons.
== Women's team ==
In 2021, the London Broncos formed a women's team to take part the inaugural season of the RFL Women's Super League South. In 2022, the Broncos finished the regular season at the top of the table, but lost to Cardiff Demons in the Grand Final. The following season they took the 2023 Women's Super League South title with a 22–10 win over Cardiff in the Grand Final. In 2024, the Super League South became the Southern Women's Championship. On 7 September 2024, London defeated Cardiff 28–8 in the Grand Final of the Southern Championship to qualify for the National Championship final. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_von_Breuning_(entomologist) | Stephan von Breuning (entomologist) | Stephan von Breuning (21 November 1894 – 11 March 1983) was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in the study of beetles (coleopterology), particularly within the Carabus, Calosoma and Ceroglossus (all of them are genera of the Carabidae family, also known as ground beetles) and the longhorn family (Cerambycidae).
== Career ==
An amateur working on the rich collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris, France, von Breuning described 7,894 taxa of Cerambycidae.
== Works ==
The complete list of von Breuning's entomological works is published in the Bulletin de la Société Sciences Nat, number 41. Among his most famous works there are the Monographie Der Gattung Carabus, published between 1932 and 1934 by Troppau, Schlesien, Cechoslovak Republik, and Études sur les Lamiaires, published in Novitates Entomologicae, 1934–1946.
== Personal life ==
Von Breuning and his wife lived in a small studio at the top of an old building on rue Durantin, Paris 18ème. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodansha_Manga_Award | Kodansha Manga Award | The Kodansha Manga Award (講談社漫画賞, Kōdansha Manga Shō) is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977.
== Categories ==
The award was originally called the Kodansha Children's Manga Award (講談社児童まんが賞, Kōdansha Jidō Manga Shō) until 1968. In 1970, it was named Kodansha Cultural Award: Children's manga category (講談社出版文化賞 児童まんが部門, Kōdansha Shuppan Bunka Shō: Jidō Manga Bumon). The second version lasted until 1976. The company decided to create multiple categories thereafter.
The award once was given out in four categories: shōnen, shōjo, children, and general. The award was formalized into the present ceremony with initially offering categories only for shōnen and shōjo in 1977. The first award for the general category was in 1982, and the first children's category award was in 2003. The children's category was merged into the shōnen and shōjo categories starting in 2015.
Each winning work will be honored with a bronze statuette, a certificate, and a prize of 1 million yen (about US$7,500).
== Recipients == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulf_Merbold | Ulf Merbold | Ulf Dietrich Merbold (German: [ʊlf ˈdiːtrɪç ˈmɛrbɔlt]; born 20 June 1941) is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, becoming the first West German citizen in space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft. Merbold flew on two Space Shuttle missions and on a Russian mission to the space station Mir, spending a total of 49 days in space.
Merbold's father was imprisoned in NKVD special camp Nr. 2 by the Red Army in 1945 and died there in 1948, and Merbold was brought up in the town of Greiz in East Germany by his mother and grandparents. As he was not allowed to attend university in East Germany, he left for West Berlin in 1960, planning to study physics there. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, he moved to Stuttgart, West Germany. In 1968, he graduated from the University of Stuttgart with a diploma in physics, and in 1976 he gained a doctorate with a dissertation about the effect of radiation on iron. He then joined the staff at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research.
In 1977, Merbold successfully applied to the European Space Agency (ESA) to become one of their first astronauts. He started astronaut training with NASA in 1978. In 1983, Merbold flew to space for the first time as a payload specialist or science astronaut on the first Spacelab mission, STS-9, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. He performed experiments in materials science and on the effects of microgravity on humans. In 1989, Merbold was selected as payload specialist for the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1) Spacelab mission STS-42, which launched in January 1992 on the Space Shuttle Discovery. Again, he mainly performed experiments in life sciences and materials science in microgravity. After ESA decided to cooperate with Russia, Merbold was chosen as one of the astronauts for the joint ESA–Russian Euromir missions and received training at the Russian Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. He flew to space for the third and last time in October 1994, spending a month working on experiments on the Mir space station.
Between his space flights, Merbold provided ground-based support for other ESA missions. For the German Spacelab mission Spacelab D-1, he served as backup astronaut and as crew interface coordinator. For the second German Spacelab mission D-2 in 1993, Merbold served as science coordinator. Merbold's responsibilities for ESA included work at the European Space Research and Technology Centre on the Columbus program and service as head of the German Aerospace Center's astronaut office. He continued working for ESA until his retirement in 2004.
== Early life and education ==
Ulf Merbold was born in Greiz, in the Vogtland area of Thuringia, on 20 June 1941. He was the only child of two teachers who lived in the school building of Wellsdorf, a small village. During World War II, Ulf's father Herbert Merbold was a soldier who was imprisoned and then released from an American prisoner of war camp in 1945. Soon after, he was imprisoned by the Red Army in NKVD special camp Nr. 2, where he died on 23 February 1948. Merbold's mother Hildegard was dismissed from her school by the Soviet zone authorities in 1945. She and her son moved to a house in Kurtschau, a suburb of Greiz, where Merbold grew up close to his maternal grandparents and his paternal grandfather.
After graduating in 1960 from Theodor-Neubauer-Oberschule high school—now Ulf-Merbold-Gymnasium Greiz—in Greiz, Merbold wanted to study physics at the University of Jena. Because he had not joined the Free German Youth, the youth organization of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, he was not allowed to study in East Germany so he decided to go to Berlin, and crossed into West Berlin by bicycle. He obtained a West German high school diploma (Abitur) in 1961, as West German universities did not accept the East German one, and intended to start studying in Berlin so he could occasionally see his mother.
When the Berlin Wall was built on 13 August 1961, it became impossible for Merbold's mother to visit him. Merbold then moved to Stuttgart, where he had an aunt, and started studying physics at the University of Stuttgart, graduating with a Diplom in 1968. He lived in a dormitory in a wing of Solitude Palace. Thanks to an amnesty for people who had left East Germany, Merbold could again see his mother from late December 1964. In 1976, Merbold obtained a doctorate in natural sciences, also from the University of Stuttgart, with a dissertation titled Untersuchung der Strahlenschädigung von stickstoffdotierten Eisen nach Neutronenbestrahlung bei 140 Grad Celsius mit Hilfe von Restwiderstandsmessungen on the effects of neutron radiation on nitrogen-doped iron. After completing his doctorate, Merbold became a staff member at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, where he had held a scholarship from 1968. At the institute, he worked on solid-state and low-temperature physics, with a special focus on experiments regarding lattice defects in body-centered cubic (bcc) materials.
== Astronaut training ==
In 1973, NASA and the European Space Research Organisation, a precursor organization of the European Space Agency (ESA), agreed to build a scientific laboratory that would be carried on the Space Shuttle, then under development. The memorandum of understanding contained the suggestion the first flight of Spacelab should have a European crew member on board. The West German contribution to Spacelab was 53.3% of the cost; 52.6% of the work contracts were carried out by West German companies, including the main contractor ERNO.
In March 1977, ESA issued an Announcement of Opportunity for future astronauts, and several thousand people applied. Fifty-three of these underwent an interview and assessment process that started in September 1977, and considered their skills in science and engineering as well as their physical health. Four of the applicants were chosen as ESA astronauts; these were Merbold, Italian Franco Malerba, Swiss Claude Nicollier and Dutch Wubbo Ockels. The French candidate Jean-Loup Chrétien was not selected, angering the President of France. Chrétien participated in the Soviet-French Soyuz T-6 mission in June 1982, becoming the first West European in space. In 1978, Merbold, Nicollier and Ockels went to Houston for NASA training at Johnson Space Center while Malerba stayed in Europe.
NASA first discussed the concept of having payload specialists aboard spaceflights in 1972, and payload specialists were first used on Spacelab's initial flight. Payload specialists did not have to meet the strict NASA requirements for mission specialists. The first Spacelab mission had been planned for 1980 or 1981 but was postponed until 1983; Nicollier and Ockels took advantage of this delay to complete mission specialist training. Merbold did not meet NASA's medical requirements due to a ureter stone he had in 1959, and he remained a payload specialist. Rather than training with NASA, Merbold started flight training for instrument rating at a flight school at Cologne Bonn Airport and worked with several organizations to prepare experiments for Spacelab.
In 1982, the crew for the first Spacelab flight was finalized, with Merbold as primary ESA payload specialist and Ockels as his backup. NASA chose Byron K. Lichtenberg and his backup Michael Lampton. The payload specialists started their training at Marshall Space Flight Center in August 1978, and then traveled to laboratories in several countries, where they learned the background of the planned experiments and how to operate the experimental equipment. The mission specialists were Owen Garriott and Robert A. Parker, and the flight crew John Young and Brewster Shaw. In January 1982, the mission and payload specialists started training at Marshall Space Flight Center on a Spacelab simulator. Some of the training took place at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne and at Kennedy Space Center. While Merbold was made very welcome at Marshall, many of the staff at Johnson Space Center were opposed to payload specialists, and Merbold felt like an intruder there. Although payload specialists were not supposed to train on the Northrop T-38 Talon jet, Young took Merbold on a flight and allowed him to fly the plane.
== STS-9 Space Shuttle mission ==
Merbold first flew to space on the STS-9 mission, which was also called Spacelab-1, aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission's launch was planned for 30 September 1983, but this was postponed because of issues with a communications satellite. A second launch date was set for 29 October 1983, but was again postponed after problems with the exhaust nozzle on the right solid rocket booster. After repairs, the shuttle returned to the launch pad on 8 November 1983, and was launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at 11:00 a.m. EST on 28 November 1983. Merbold became the first non-US citizen to fly on a NASA space mission and also the first West German citizen in space. The mission was the first six-person spaceflight.
During the mission, the shuttle crew worked in groups of three in 12-hour shifts, with a "red team" consisting of Young, Parker and Merbold, and a "blue team" with the other three astronauts. The "red team" worked from 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. EST. Young usually worked on the flight deck, and Merbold and Parker in the Spacelab. Merbold and Young became good friends. On the mission's first day, approximately three hours after takeoff and after the orbiter's payload bay doors had been opened, the crew attempted to open the hatch leading to Spacelab. At first, Garriott and Merbold could not open the jammed hatch; the entire crew took turns trying to open it without applying significant force, which might damage the door. They opened the hatch after 15 minutes.
The Spacelab mission included about 70 experiments, many of which involved fluids and materials in a microgravity environment. The astronauts were subjects of a study on the effects of the environment in orbit on humans; these included experiments aiming to understand space adaptation syndrome, of which three of the four scientific crew members displayed some symptoms. Following NASA policy, it was not made public which astronaut had developed space sickness. Merbold later commented he had vomited twice but felt much better afterwards. Merbold repaired a faulty mirror heating facility, allowing some materials science experiments to continue. The mission's success in gathering results, and the crew's low consumption of energy and cryogenic fuel, led to a one-day mission extension from nine days to ten.
On one of the last days in orbit, Young, Lichtenberg and Merbold took part in an international, televised press conference that included US president Ronald Reagan in Washington, DC, and the Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl, who was at a European economic summit meeting in Athens, Greece. During the telecast, which Reagan described as "one heck of a conference call", Merbold gave a tour of Spacelab and showed Europe from space while mentioning die Schönheit der Erde (the beauty of the Earth). Merbold spoke to Kohl in German, and showed the shuttle's experiments to Kohl and Reagan, pointing out the possible importance of the materials-science experiments from Germany.
When the crew prepared for the return to Earth, around five hours before the planned landing, two of the five onboard computers and one of three inertial measurement units malfunctioned, and the return was delayed by several orbits. Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) at 6:47 p.m. EST on 8 December 1983. Just before the landing, a leak of hydrazine fuel caused a fire in the aft section. After the return to Earth, Merbold compared the experience of standing up and walking again to walking on a ship rolling in a storm. The four scientific crew members spent the week after landing doing extensive physiological experiments, many of them comparing their post-flight responses to those in microgravity. After landing, Merbold was enthusiastic about the mission and the post-flight experiments.
== Ground-based astronaut work ==
In 1984, Ulf Merbold became the backup payload specialist for the Spacelab D-1 mission, which West Germany funded. The mission, which was numbered STS-61-A, was carried out on the Space Shuttle Challenger from 30 October to 6 November 1985. In ESA parlance, Merbold and the three other payload specialists—Germans Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Messerschmid and the Dutch Wubbo Ockels—were called "science astronauts" to distinguish them from "passengers" like Saudi prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud and Utah senator Jake Garn, both of whom had also flown as payload specialists on the Space Shuttle. During the Spacelab mission, Merbold acted as crew interface coordinator, working from the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen to support the astronauts on board while working with the scientists on the ground.
From 1986, Merbold worked for ESA at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, Netherlands, contributing to plans for what would become the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS). In 1987, he became head of the German Aerospace Center's astronaut office, and in April–May 1993 he served as science coordinator for the second German Spacelab mission D-2 on STS-55.
== STS-42 Space Shuttle mission ==
In June 1989, Ulf Merbold was chosen to train as payload specialist for the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) Spacelab mission. STS-42 was intended to launch in December 1990 on Columbia but was delayed several times. After first being reassigned to launch with Atlantis in December 1991, it finally launched on the Space Shuttle Discovery on 22 January 1992, with a final one-hour delay to 9:52 a.m. EST caused by bad weather and issues with a hydrogen pump. The change from Columbia to Discovery meant the mission had to be shortened, as Columbia had been capable of carrying extra hydrogen and oxygen tanks that could power the fuel cells. Merbold was the first astronaut to represent reunified Germany. The other payload specialist on board was astronaut Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space. Originally, Sonny Carter was assigned as one of three mission specialists; he died in a plane crash on 5 April 1991, and was replaced by David C. Hilmers.
The mission specialized in experiments in life sciences and materials science in microgravity. IML-1 included ESA's Biorack module, a biological research facility in which cells and small organisms could be exposed to weightlessness and cosmic radiation. It was used for microgravity experiments on various biological samples including frog eggs, fruit flies, and Physarum polycephalum slime molds. Bacteria, fungi and shrimp eggs were exposed to cosmic rays. Other experiments focused on the human response to weightlessness or crystal growth. There were also ten Getaway Special canisters with experiments on board. Like STS-9, the mission operated in two teams who worked 12-hour shifts: a "blue team" consisting of mission commander Ronald J. Grabe together with Stephen S. Oswald, payload commander Norman Thagard, and Bondar; and a "red team" of William F. Readdy, Hilmers, and Merbold. Because the crew did not use as many consumables as planned, the mission was extended from seven days to eight, landing at Edwards AFB on 30 January 1992, at 8:07 a.m. PST.
== Euromir 94 mission ==
In November 1992, ESA decided to start cooperating with Russia on human spaceflight. The aim of this collaboration was to gain experience in long-duration spaceflights, which were not possible with NASA at the time, and to prepare for the construction of the Columbus module of the ISS. On 7 May 1993, Merbold and the Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque were chosen as candidates to serve as the ESA astronaut on the first Euromir mission, Euromir 94.
Along with other potential Euromir 95 astronauts, German Thomas Reiter and Swedish Christer Fuglesang, in August 1993 Merbold and Duque began training at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, after completing preliminary training at the European Astronaut Centre, Cologne. On 30 May 1994, it was announced Merbold would be the primary astronaut and Duque would serve as his backup. Equipment with a mass of 140 kg (310 lb) for the mission was sent to Mir on the Progress M-24 transporter, which failed to dock and collided with Mir on 30 August 1994, successfully docking only under manual control from Mir on 2 September.
Merbold launched with commander Aleksandr Viktorenko and flight engineer Yelena Kondakova on Soyuz TM-20 on 4 October 1994, 1:42 a.m. Moscow time. Merbold became the second person to launch on both American and Russian spacecraft after cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who had flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-60 in February 1994 after several Soviet and Russian spaceflights. During docking, the computer on board Soyuz TM-20 malfunctioned but Viktorenko managed to dock manually. The cosmonauts then joined the existing Mir crew of Yuri Malenchenko, Talgat Musabayev and Valeri Polyakov, expanding the crew to six people for 30 days.
On board Mir, Merbold performed 23 life sciences experiments, 4 materials science experiments, and other experiments. For one experiment designed to study the vestibular system, Merbold wore a helmet that recorded his motion and his eye movements. On 11 October, a power loss disrupted some of these experiments but power was restored after the station was reoriented to point the solar array toward the Sun. The ground team rescheduled Merbold's experiments but a malfunction of a Czech-built materials processing furnace caused five of them to be postponed until after Merbold's return to Earth. None of the experiments were damaged by the power outage.
Merbold's return flight with Malenchenko and Musabayev on Soyuz TM-19 was delayed by one day to experiment with the automated docking system that had failed on the Progress transporter. The test was successful and on 4 November, Soyuz TM-19 de-orbited, carrying the three cosmonauts and 16 kg (35 lb) of Merbold's samples from the biological experiments, with the remainder to return later on the Space Shuttle. The STS-71 mission was also supposed to return a bag containing science videotapes created by Merbold but this bag was lost. The landing of Soyuz TM-19 was rough; the cabin was blown off-course by nine kilometres (5.6 mi) and bounced after hitting the ground. None of the crew were hurt during landing.
During his three spaceflights—the most of any German national—Merbold has spent 49 days in space.
== Later career ==
In January 1995, shortly after the Euromir mission, Merbold became head of the astronaut department of the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne. From 1999 to 2004, Merbold worked in the Microgravity Promotion Division of the ESA Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity in Noordwijk, where his task was to spread awareness of the opportunities provided by the ISS among European research and industry organizations. He retired on 30 July 2004, but has continued to do consulting work for ESA and give lectures.
== Personal life ==
Since 1969, Ulf Merbold has been married to Birgit, née Riester and the couple have two children, a daughter born in 1975 and a son born in 1979. They live in Stuttgart.
In 1984, Merbold met the East German cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn, who had become the first German in space after launching on Soyuz 31 on 26 August 1978. They both were born in the Vogtland (Jähn was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz) and grew up in East Germany. Jähn and Merbold became founding members of the Association of Space Explorers in 1985. Jähn helped Merbold's mother, who had moved to Stuttgart, to obtain a permit for a vacation in East Germany. After German reunification, Merbold helped Jähn become a freelance consultant for the German Aerospace Center. At the time of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, they were at an astronaut conference in Saudi Arabia together.
In his spare time Merbold enjoys playing the piano and skiing. He also flies planes including gliders. Holding a commercial pilot license, he has over 3,000 hours of flight experience as a pilot. On his 79th birthday, he inaugurated the new runway at the Flugplatz Greiz-Obergrochlitz airfield, landing with his wife in a Piper Seneca II.
== Awards and honors ==
In 1983, Merbold received the American Astronautical Society's Flight Achievement Award, together with the rest of the STS-9 crew. He was also awarded the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg in December 1983. In 1984, he was awarded the Haley Astronautics Award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (first class). In 1988, he was awarded the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia. Merbold received the Russian Order of Friendship in November 1994, the Kazakh Order of Parasat in January 1995 and the Russian Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" in April 2011. In 1995, he received an honorary doctorate in engineering from RWTH Aachen University.
In 2008, the asteroid 10972 Merbold was named after him. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Retriever#Health | Golden Retriever#Health | The Golden Retriever is a Scottish breed of retriever dog of medium-large size. It is characterised by a gentle and affectionate nature and a striking golden coat. It is a working dog, and registration is subject to successful completion of a working trial. It is commonly kept as a companion dog and is among the most frequently registered breeds in several Western countries; some may compete in dog shows or obedience trials, or work as guide dogs.
The Golden Retriever was bred by Sir Dudley Marjoribanks at his Scottish estate Guisachan in the late nineteenth century. He cross-bred Flat-coated Retrievers with Tweed Water Spaniels, with some further infusions of Red Setter, Labrador Retriever and Bloodhound. It was recognised by the Kennel Club in 1913, and during the interwar period spread to many parts of the world.
== History ==
The Golden Retriever was developed in Scotland in the nineteenth century by Sir Dudley Marjoribanks (later to become Baron Tweedmouth) from Flat-coated Retrievers judiciously crossed with Tweed Water Spaniels and some other British dog breeds. Before the 1952 publication of the detailed stud book, meticulously maintained by Marjoribanks, a number of romantic tales about the breed's origins were published.
In the 1860s, Marjoribanks set out to create what, to his mind, was the ultimate breed of retriever at Guisachan, his Scottish estate. He started by acquiring a yellow-coloured Flat-coated Retriever dog named Nous; Nous had been whelped in June 1864 and was the only yellow pup in an otherwise all black-coloured litter. Although uncommon, occasionally liver-, brown-, golden- or yellow-coloured purebred Flat-coated Retriever pups are whelped to matings of two black parents. It was Nous's pedigree that gave rise to the romantic tales of the Golden Retriever's heritage. One early account claimed Nous was purchased from a Russian circus trainer in Brighton; another claimed he was bought from a cobbler; and yet another claimed he was bought from a gypsy. The stud book states that Nous was a Flat-coated Retriever bred by Henry Pelham, 3rd Earl of Chichester on his Stanmer Park estate near Brighton.
In 1868, Nous was mated to a Tweed Water Spaniel female named Belle, who is recorded in the stud book as being whelped in 1863 and being of "Ladykirk breeding". The litter from this mating consisted of four yellow pups: Primrose, Ada, Cowslip, and Crocus. The female selected from this litter, Cowslip, was mated to a Tweed Water Spaniel called Tweed with the mating producing a bitch pup called Topsy. Cowslip was subsequently mated to a Red Setter called Sampson; that mating produced a dog pup called Jack. Topsy was mated with a black Flat-coated Retriever called Sambo and a bitch pup from that litter, Zoe, was mated back to Jack and two pups from that mating were retained, a dog called Nous II and a bitch called Gill. Gill was mated to a black Labrador Retriever called Tracer, and a bitch pup from that mating, Queenie, was mated back to Nous II; all Golden Retrievers descend from this mating. The progeny from these various matings varied in colour from pure black to light cream, but it was the golden-coloured ones that were retained and mated to each other, forming the foundation stock of the Golden Retriever breed. Marjoribanks is also known to have used a sandy-coloured Bloodhound and another Labrador in subsequent years of the breeding programme.
In 1952, Marjoribanks's great-nephew, Giles Fox-Strangways, 6th Earl of Ilchester, teamed up with Elma Stonex, and together they studied Marjoribanks's stud book. In 1960, their research was published, presenting all of the evidence required to counter all tales of Russian ancestry. The stud book, which covers the period from 1868 to 1890, is preserved in the library of the Kennel Club in London. In the early days, Golden Retrievers were called the "Flat-coated Retriever, Golden". Initially, the Golden Retriever was considered a colour variety of the former breed. In 1903, the Kennel Club recorded the first examples, listing them in the same register as Flat-coats. In 1904 a Golden Retriever won a field trial and in 1908 the first examples were exhibited at conformation shows. In 1911, a breed club for the breed in England, the Golden Retriever Club, was formed, and the breed was given a new name, the "Yellow or Golden Retriever". From this point, they were increasingly seen as a separate breed from the Flat-coated Retriever. It was not until 1913 that the Kennel Club began recording them on a separate breed register from the Flat-coated Retriever, and in 1920, the "Yellow or" was dropped from the breed name, and they were officially called the "Golden Retriever".
One early twentieth-century enthusiast of the breed, Winifred Charlesworth, was instrumental in establishing the breed club and in securing its separate Kennel Club recognition. It was she who drew up the first breed standard, which was adopted by the Kennel Club and, with only minor amendments, remains essentially unchanged. She bred and exhibited the first Golden Retriever Show Champion, was a strong advocate for maintaining the working instincts of the breed, and is credited with popularising it at field trials and introducing it to shooting sportsmen.
In the years after the First World War, its popularity increased markedly, and in the 1920s and 1930s it spread through much of the Western world. The Canadian Kennel Club recognised the breed in 1927, and the American Kennel Club in 1932. The first examples were registered in France in 1934 and in Australia in 1937. The worldwide popularity of the breed meant it did not suffer the misfortunes many British dog breeds did during the Second World War due to British wartime restrictions on the breeding of larger dogs, with ample quality breeding stock available globally to ensure none of its characteristics were lost. Since the 1940s, its popularity has continued to grow, and it has become one of the most recognised and most frequently registered dog breeds in the Western world.
== Description ==
=== Appearance ===
The Golden Retriever is a powerfully built, medium-sized breed of dog; according to the Kennel Club breed standard, dogs stand from 56 to 61 centimetres (22 to 24 in) and bitches from 51 to 56 centimetres (20 to 22 in). Healthy adult examples typically weigh between 25 and 34 kilograms (55 and 75 lb).
The Golden Retriever has a broad head with a well-defined stop, dark eyes set well apart, a wide and powerful muzzle, a large black nose, dark-pigmented and slightly drooping flews, and ears of moderate size set high and hanging with a slight fold. The neck is muscular and fairly long with loose-fitting skin, the shoulders well laid-back and long-bladed, and the body deep through the chest with well-sprung ribs. The back is usually level from withers to croup, and the long, straight tail is usually carried flat, roughly in line with the back. The forelegs are straight with good bone, the hind legs are powerful with well-bent stifles and muscular thighs, and the feet are cat-like.
The double coat is a recognisable and striking feature: the outer coat is long, flat, or wavy, with good feathering on the forelegs, while the undercoat is dense and provides weather resistance. The coat can be any shade of cream, yellow, or gold; it typically becomes paler with age. The Kennel Club breed standard prohibits red or mahogany-coloured coats, but a few white hairs on the chest are permitted. Originally, only yellow or golden coloured examples were permitted; this excluded many outstanding cream coloured dogs. To overcome this, in 1936, the Kennel Club amended its standard to include the cream colour. The cream colour, which in more modern times can be almost white, has become the dominant colour and is particularly favoured by conformation show exhibitors. Golden Retrievers that are bred for conformation shows tend to have longer and finer coats than those bred for working as gundogs.
The Kennel Club breed standard is accepted by every kennel club worldwide except those in Canada and the United States. Breed standards in North America call for a slightly taller dog and the cream colour is not permitted.
=== Temperament ===
The Golden Retriever is considered an intelligent, gentle-natured, and very affectionate breed. As is typical with retriever breeds, the breed is generally calm and biddable, being very easy to train and extremely keen to please their humans. The breed is known to make excellent pets and family dogs, being generally extremely tolerant of children and keen to accompany any family member in a range of activities. Due to their affable natures, the breed is often completely devoid of guarding instincts. However, there have also been reports of some very aggressive Golden Retrievers in certain lineages. It has been suggested that genetic factors partially cause these variations in aggression.
The breed usually retains many of its gundog traits and instincts, including an excellent sense of smell and a strong instinct to retrieve; even among those not trained as gundogs, it is typical for Golden Retrievers to present their owners with toys or other objects. Compared to other retriever breeds, the Golden Retriever is typically quite slow to mature.
== Health ==
A 2024 UK study found a median life expectancy (95% CI) of 13.2 (13.1–13.2) years for the breed compared to an average of 12.7 for purebreeds and 12 for crossbreeds. A 2024 Italian study found a life expectancy of 10 years for the breed compared to 10 years overall. A 2005 Swedish study found that 22% of Golden Retrievers died by the age of 10, less than the overall rate of 35% of dogs dying by the age of 10.
The breed is unusually prone to cancer, with one United States study finding cancer to be the cause of death in approximately 50% of the population, the second highest in the study. Several European studies found a much lower prevalence (20% to 39%), which may reflect the significant genetic divergence between the American and European populations. They are especially prone to hemangiosarcoma and lymphoma, with estimated lifetime risks of 1 in 5 for the former and 1 in 8 for the latter. The high prevalence of cancer deaths among Golden Retrievers may partly represent a lack of other congenital diseases. One UK study found the odds (95% CI) of metastatic neoplasia in the breed to be 4.86 (2.48–9.50) times greater than the odds of metastatic neoplasia in a large control population of dogs with Petlog microchips in the country.
The Golden Retriever has a genetic predisposition to primary hypothyroidism; a 2015 review of 5 studies found that Golden Retrievers accounted for 17% of cases.
Nonepidermolytic ichthyosis is caused by an autosomal recessive trait in the Golden Retriever. A mutation in the PNPLA1 gene is responsible.
== Use ==
The Golden Retriever is one of the most commonly kept breeds of companion dog in the Western world, and is often among the top ten dog breeds by number of registrations in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada. It is a frequent competitor at dog shows; separate show lines of the breed have been developed. The dogs can be trained as guide dogs and therapy dogs, and may compete in obedience trials and other dog sports.
The Golden Retriever is still used as a gundog by sportsmen, both as a hunting companion in the field and for competing in field trials. It is used more for retrieval of land-based gamebirds such as grouse and partridge than for wildfowl hunting. Those used as gundogs are usually from working lines specifically bred for field use; dogs from pet or show lines are rarely suitable. A Golden Retriever with a traditional dense double coat is well suited to working in cold and wet conditions, as the coat provides water resistance and insulation. Compared to other retriever breeds, the Golden Retriever is not a strong swimmer; its long coat causes it to sit low in the water when swimming.
The Golden Retriever is much less commonly used by sportsmen as a hunting companion than the Labrador Retriever. One reason is that the breed is generally quite slow to mature, particularly compared to the Labrador; often when a Golden Retriever is still in basic training a Labrador of the same age has already completed a season of hunting. Another is its long coat, which requires more maintenance and grooming than that of the Labrador, particularly after working in muddy conditions or close cover, as their long hair is more prone to picking up dirt and burrs. More Golden Retrievers are bred as pets or for the show ring than for hunting, so it can be hard for sportsmen to find pups bred from proven working lines.
== Notable Golden Retrievers ==
Liberty, presidential pet of President Gerald R. Ford
Bailey, pet of 2020 US presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren
Orca, PDSA Gold Medal recipient for bravery
Mayor Max, elected Mayor of Idyllwild, California
Buddy, dog actor in the film Air Bud
== Explanatory notes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Alexander | Jason Alexander | Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor and comedian. Over the course of his career, he has received an Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for four Golden Globe Awards. He gained stardom for his role as George Costanza in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series and was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and four Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor in Television.
Alexander made his Broadway debut originating the role of Joe in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along in 1981. He remained active on Broadway acting in the musicals The Rink in 1984 and the Neil Simon play Broadway Bound in 1986. He then starred in Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. His subsequent theatre roles include the touring production of The Producers from 2003 to 2004 and replacing Larry David in the original 2015 Broadway production of Fish in the Dark. He has also directed several plays such as the original 2023 Broadway production of The Cottage.
His film roles include Pretty Woman (1990), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Coneheads (1993), The Paper (1994), Dunston Checks In (1996), Shallow Hal (2001), and Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009). He voiced the gargoyle Hugo in the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and the titular role in Duckman (1994–1997). He was the narrator for the documentary film Sideshow: Alive on the Inside (1999). For his role in Dream On (1994) he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
== Early life and education ==
Greenspan was born on September 23, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey to a Jewish family, the son of Ruth Minnie (née Simon), a nurse and health care administrator, and Alexander B. Greenspan, an accounting manager. Greenspan later borrowed his father's first name to create his stage name, Jason Alexander.
Alexander grew up in Maplewood and Livingston, New Jersey, and is a 1977 graduate of Livingston High School. Interested in magic from an early age, he initially hoped to be a magician, but while attending a magic camp was told that his hands were too small for card magic. He became interested in theater, eventually realizing, "Wait a minute—the whole thing's an illusion. Nothing up there is real" and that theater itself was "a magic trick". He then decided to pursue a theater career.
After high school, he studied theater at Boston University. He wanted to pursue classical acting, but a professor redirected him toward comedy after noticing his physique, remarking, "I know your heart and soul are Hamlet, but you will never play Hamlet." Alexander left Boston University without a degree after his third year to take a full-time acting job in New York City. The university awarded him an honorary degree in 1995.
== Career ==
=== 1980–1999: Broadway debut and Seinfeld ===
Alexander began his acting career on the New York stage and is an accomplished singer and dancer. Alexander made his film debut in 1981 in the summer camp slasher film The Burning. On Broadway he appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along in 1981, Kander & Ebb's The Rink in 1984, Neil Simon's Broadway Bound in 1986, Accomplice in 1990, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, for which he garnered the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Frank Rich of The New York Times wrote of his performance "Jason Alexander, the evening's delightful narrator, accomplishes the seemingly impossible: he banishes the memory of Zero Mostel from the role of Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum".
In addition to his roles as an insensitive, money-hungry lawyer in Pretty Woman in 1990, Alexander has appeared in Jacob's Ladder in 1990, Coneheads in 1993, The Paper and North in 1994, The Last Supper in 1995, Dunston Checks In in 1996, Love! Valour! Compassion! in 1997, Denial in 1998, and Love and Action in Chicago in 1999. Alexander starred in several commercials during the 1980s. Among them were commercials for Hershey's Kiss; Delta Gold potato chips; Miller Lite beer; McDonald's McDLT hamburger; Pabst Blue Ribbon beer; Levi's 501 jeans; Sony Watchman TV; and Western Union wire transfer. Before Seinfeld, Alexander appeared in commercials for John Deere and McDonald's and in the short-lived CBS sitcom Everything's Relative (1987).
Alexander is best known as one of the key cast members of the award-winning television sitcom Seinfeld, where he played the bumbling George Costanza (Jerry Seinfeld's character's best friend since childhood). He was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards for the role, but did not win any, mainly due to his co-star Michael Richards winning for his role as Cosmo Kramer. He did, however, win the 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series.
Concurrently with his Seinfeld role, he had a part in the ABC sitcom Dinosaurs as Al "Sexual" Harris (who frequently engaged in sexual harassment) as well as other characters from 1991 to 1994. For his role in an episode of Dream On, Alexander was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1994. Alexander voiced the lead character in the animated series Duckman (1994–1997) and voiced Catbert, the evil director of human resources, in the short-lived animated series Dilbert from 1999 to 2000, based on the then-popular comic strip. In January 1995, he did a commercial for Rold Gold pretzels to be broadcast during the Super Bowl. The commercial depicts him with Frasier dog Eddie jumping out of an airplane with a parachute over the stadium. After the commercial, the audience is brought back to a supposedly live feed of the playing field hearing startled sports commentators as Alexander and the dog land in the field to wild applause.
Alexander appeared in the 1995 TV version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie, as Conrad Birdie's agent, Albert Peterson. He guest-starred in episode 8 of the 1996 variety show Muppets Tonight. He voiced the gargoyle Hugo in Disney's 1996 animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and its direct-to-video sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. Alexander voiced the character Abis Mal in the 1994 film The Return of Jafar and the 1994-1995 TV series based on the 1992 film Aladdin.
In 1997, he appeared in Cinderella, a remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, alongside Whitney Houston, Brandy Norwood, and Whoopi Goldberg. His other Disney voice work includes House of Mouse in 2001 and the 2012 video game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. He has dabbled in directing, starting with 1996's For Better or Worse and 1999's Just Looking. In 1999, Alexander presided over the New York Friars Club Roast event honoring Jerry Stiller, who played his father on Seinfeld; it featured appearances by Kevin James and Patton Oswalt, both Stiller's costars on The King of Queens. Alexander appeared in the 1999 Star Trek: Voyager episode "Think Tank" as Kurros, a genius alien trying to get Seven of Nine to serve on his ship.
In 1999, he provided narration for the documentary film Sideshow: Alive on the Inside.
=== 2000–2009: Solo-lead sitcoms and return to theatre ===
Despite a successful career in film and stage, Alexander did not repeat his Seinfeld-level of success in television. 2001 marked his appearance as inept womanizer Mauricio in Shallow Hal and his first post-Seinfeld return to prime-time television: the heavily promoted but short-lived ABC sitcom Bob Patterson, which was canceled after five episodes. Alexander partially blames the show's failure on the country's mood after 9/11. Alexander made cameo appearances as himself in 2001 in the second season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and he appeared in the show's seventh season with his three principal Seinfeld co-stars. He was featured in the Friends 2001 episode "The One Where Rosita Dies" as Earl, a suicidal supply manager. Phoebe calls him trying to sell him toner, learns about his problem, and tries to persuade him not to commit suicide. This is referenced in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Alexander appears as Leonard, a neurotic and critical loner. He describes himself as "free" and says he makes money "selling toner over the phone". Later in the episode, he is repeatedly harassed by a man named George.
He appeared in "One Night at Mercy", the first episode of the short-lived 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone, playing Death. He played the toymaker A.C. Gilbert in the 2002 film The Man Who Saved Christmas. He appeared in Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) commercials in 2002, including one with Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and another with Trista Rehn of The Bachelorette. It was rumored that he quit doing these commercials due to KFC suppliers and slaughterhouses' alleged cruelty to animals, but he denied that in an interview with Adweek, saying, "That's PETA bullcrap. I loved working for KFC. I was targeted by PETA to broker something between them. I think KFC really stepped up to the plate; unfortunately PETA did not." In 2007, Alexander appeared in a commercial for the ASPCA that aired on cable TV stations. In 2018, Alexander portrayed Colonel Sanders in commercials for KFC, reprising his role from the 2002 campaign.
In 2003, he was cast opposite Martin Short in the Los Angeles production of Mel Brooks's The Producers. He appeared with Kelsey Grammer in the 2004 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, as Jacob Marley. He voiced Lil' Lightning in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003), which went on to become one of his most signature roles. Alexander's second chance as a TV series lead, the CBS sitcom Listen Up (2004–05), also fell short of a second season. Alexander was the principal executive producer of the series, based very loosely on the life of the popular sports-media personality Tony Kornheiser. He performed on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas 2005 album. Alexander continued to appear in live stage shows, including Barbra Streisand's memorable birthday party in 2005 for Stephen Sondheim at the Hollywood Bowl, where he performed selections from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Angela Lansbury. He featured in the 2005 Monk episode "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective" as Monk's rival, Marty Eels.
In a 2006 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Alexander demonstrated several self-defense techniques. Also that year, he hosted the PBS "A Capitol Fourth" celebrations in Washington, D.C., singing, dancing, and playing tuned drums. Alexander was featured as a recurring cast member in the second season of Everybody Hates Chris. He hosted the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner. He was the artistic director of Reprise Theatre Company in Los Angeles from 2007 until it went defunct in 2013, where he previously directed Sunday in the Park with George, and directed its 2007 revival of Damn Yankees. In 2007, Alexander was a guest star in the third episode of the improv comedy series Thank God You're Here.
He has been a frequent guest and panelist on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect in 1995, 1997 and 2000 and Real Time in 2006, 2009 and 2012; Hollywood Squares in 1999, 2002 and 2004; the Late Late Show in 2003, 2012, 2014 and 2015, with Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and James Corden; Late Show with David Letterman in 1989, 2000, and 2002; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2015; and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015. In 2008, Alexander guest-starred in the season four episode "Masterpiece" of the CBS show Criminal Minds as Professor Rothschild, a well-educated serial killer obsessed with the Fibonacci sequence who sends the team into a race against time to save his last victims. He returned in the same season to direct the episode "Conflicted", featuring the actor Jackson Rathbone.
Alexander hosted the LOL Sudbury opening night gala in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada in 2008, which was simulcast throughout Canada at 60 Cineplex theaters, a first for any comedy festival. He has lent his voice to several episodes of the Twilight Zone Radio Dramas. In 2008 and again in 2009, Alexander fronted Jason Alexander's Comedy Spectacular, a routine exclusive to Australia. The show consists of stand-up and improvisation and incorporates Alexander's musical talent. He is backed up by several well-known Australian comedians. His first time performing a similar show of this nature was in 2006's Jason Alexander's Comedy Christmas. In February/March 2010, Alexander starred in his show, The Donny Clay Experience, at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Donny Clay, whom he has portrayed in a tour of the United States and Orillia, Ontario, is a self-help guru in a similar mold to his Bob Patterson character. In 2009, he played Joseph in the Thomas Nelson audio Bible production The Word of Promise. The project featured a large ensemble of actors, including Jim Caviezel, Lou Gossett Jr., John Rhys-Davies, Jon Voight, Gary Sinise, Christopher McDonald, Marisa Tomei, and John Schneider. In 2009, Alexander had a small role in the film Hachi: A Dog's Tale as a train station manager.
=== 2010–present ===
He starred as Cosmo in the 2011 live action film A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!. In 2011, Alexander was the guest star in an episode of Harry's Law, playing a high school teacher bringing a wrongful dismissal suit. In 2015, he replaced Larry David as the lead in David's Broadway play Fish in the Dark. He co-starred opposite Sherie Rene Scott in the 2017 world premiere of John Patrick Shanley's The Portuguese Kid at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2018, Alexander played Olix the bartender in The Orville. The same year, he portrayed Gene Lundy, a drama teacher, on two episodes of Young Sheldon. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, he reprised the role of Gene Lundy on one episode.
In 2019, Alexander appeared on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Asher Friedman, a blacklisted Broadway playwright who is an old friend of Midge Maisel's father Abe Weissman. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for "The Bad Guys?" on Brainwashed By Toons (2020). In 2020, Alexander hosted the Saturday Night Seder, an online Passover Seder that featured many celebrities and benefited the CDC Foundation.
From February 2023 he co-presented Really? No, Really?, a weekly podcast in which he, co-host Peter Tilden, and their guests attempt to find answers "to life’s most baffling, intriguing, confusing and annoying questions". In July 2023, he made his Broadway directing debut with Sandy Rustin's comedy The Cottage. The cast includes Eric McCormack, Laura Bell Bundy and Lilli Cooper. In 2023, on the December 21 primetime CBS special Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic, Alexander performed two songs in conjunction with dance-performers and closed the show with a spoken tribute to Van Dyke.
== Personal life ==
Alexander has been married to Daena E. Title, cousin of director Stacy Title, since May 31, 1982. They have two sons, Gabriel and Noah.
Alexander performed a mentalism and magic act at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, from April 24 to 30, 2006, and he was later named The Academy of Magical Arts Parlor Magician of the Year for this act. He won the academy's Junior Achievement Award in 1989.
=== Charity ===
Alexander was the national spokesman for the Scleroderma Foundation, a leading organization dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and assisting those who are afflicted. In summer 2005, he appeared with Lee Iacocca in ads for DaimlerChrysler. Iacocca did the ads as part of a way to raise money for Denise Faustman's research on autoimmunity. Iacocca and Alexander both have loved ones whose lives have been adversely affected by autoimmunity.
Alexander competed on televised poker shows and in various tournaments. He appeared twice on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, winning the final table of the 8th season. Alexander won the $500,000 prize for the charity of his choice, The United Way of America, to help benefit the New Orleans area. Alexander played in the 2007 World Series of Poker main event, but he was eliminated on the second day. He returned in 2009, making it to day 3 of the event and finishing in the top 30% of the field. Alexander has appeared on NBC's Poker After Dark in the "Celebrities and Mentors" episode, finishing in 6th place after being eliminated by professional poker player Gavin Smith. He signed with PokerStars, where he plays under the screen name "J. Alexander". In 2021, Alexander competed in a virtual National Poker Tournament, hosted by the Children's Tumor Foundation, to raise money for Neurofibromatosis research.
=== Political views ===
Alexander has been a prominent public supporter of the OneVoice initiative, which seeks out opinions from moderate Israelis and Palestinians who want to achieve a mutual peace agreement, through what it states is the silent majority of Israelis and Palestinians. On Real Time with Bill Maher, he said he had visited Israel many times and spoke about progress toward peace he had observed.
On December 6, 2012 Alexander emceed his third gala event for non-profit group Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a charity supporting the Israel Defense Forces. Musician Stevie Wonder canceled his performance at the event following a recommendation from the UN, and a public petition from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) requesting that he not attend the event. Alexander, who was interviewed at the event by Jewish News Syndicate, stated he supported the OneVoice Movement, and acknowledged an occupation of Palestine and called for a two-state solution, which was later criticized by Roz Rothstein, CEO of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs. When asked about the IDF, Alexander stated that they were humane and noble, stating "some of the finest, most humane, most admirable, most noble-serving soldiers that I've ever seen" and that "there can never be any doubt that I am also an advocate for Israel". When asked about why he had repeatedly emceed the event, Alexander stated, "They don't understand first of all what [FIDF] is, and they see it as just a blanket support for Israeli military, and they don't understand how I can say that I'm an advocate for both sides. And given the fact that there are eyes on this event tonight, I thought it was important to get up and say, 'This is why I can advocate for this group and I can advocate for Israel, and I'm not blind to the fact that we're in conflict, and I hold everyone equally accountable, and I hold everyone equally to my heart.'" On November 6, 2015 he again emceed an event at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in California, which raised $31 million for "provid[ing] educational, cultural and recreational programs and facilities for IDF soldiers."
Alexander is a supporter of the Democratic Party. Alexander supports same-sex marriage and an assault weapons ban. In 2020, he campaigned for the Texas Democrats with former Seinfeld colleagues Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Larry David. He endorsed Barack Obama in 2012 and Joe Biden in 2020. Alexander has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration and he has ridiculed Donald Trump over his dancing. He has called Republican Party senator Ted Cruz a jerk from the "jerk store" in reference to a joke from Seinfeld.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Theatre ===
=== Music videos ===
=== Video games ===
=== Director ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Cowboys | Dallas Cowboys | The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and has played its home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, since its opening in 2009. The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season, following the team's decision to sell the stadium's naming rights to telecommunications company AT&T.
The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960. The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs. The Cowboys' streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games (home and away) began in 2002. The franchise has made it to the Super Bowl eight times, tying it with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, and San Francisco 49ers for second-most Super Bowl appearances in history behind the New England Patriots' record 11 appearances. Their eight NFC championships are tied for most in the conference's history. The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons (from 1966 to 1985) during which they missed the playoffs only twice (1974 and 1984).
In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable sports team in the world, according to Forbes. In 2016, the Cowboys also became the most valuable sports team at $4 billion, a record they have held since by also being the first sports team to reach a worth of $10 billion dollars. As of late 2025, the Cowboys are valued at about $13 billion. The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U.S. sports team. In 2018, they also became the first NFL franchise to be valued at $5 billion and making Forbes' list as the most valued NFL team for the 12th straight year.
== History ==
=== Origins ===
Prior to the formation of the Dallas Cowboys, there had not been an NFL team south of Washington, D.C. since the Dallas Texans folded in 1952 after only one season. Two businessmen had tried and failed to get Dallas a team in the NFL: Lamar Hunt responded by forming the American Football League with a group of owners, which would spur the NFL to expand beyond twelve teams. Oilman Clint Murchison Jr. persisted with his intent to bring a team to Dallas, but George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, had a monopoly in the South (after the addition of Dallas, the South would see three further teams - NFL teams in Atlanta and New Orleans, and an AFL team in Miami - added in the next six years).
Murchison had tried to purchase the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) from Marshall in 1958 with the intent of moving them to Dallas. An agreement was struck, but as the deal was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms, which infuriated Murchison, and he called off the deal. Marshall then opposed any franchise for Murchison in Dallas. Since NFL expansion needed unanimous approval from team owners at that time, Marshall's position would prevent Murchison from joining the league.
Marshall had a falling out with the Redskins band leader Barnee Breeskin, who had written the music to the Redskins fight song "Hail to the Redskins", and Marshall's wife had penned the lyrics. Breeskin owned the rights to the song and was aware of Murchison's plight to get an NFL franchise. Angry with Marshall, Breeskin approached Murchison's attorney to sell him the rights to the song before the expansion vote in 1959: Murchison subsequently purchased "Hail to the Redskins" for $2,500.
Before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he now owned the song, and barred Marshall from playing it during games. After Marshall launched an expletive-laced tirade, Murchison sold the rights to "Hail to the Redskins" back to Marshall in exchange for his vote, the lone one against Murchison getting a franchise at that time, and a rivalry was born. Murchison hired CBS Sports executive and former Los Angeles Rams general manager Tex Schramm as team president and general manager, San Francisco 49ers scout Gil Brandt as head of player personnel, and New York Giants defensive coordinator Tom Landry as head coach, thus forming a triumvirate that would lead the Cowboys' football operations for three decades.
=== Tom Landry years (1960–1988) ===
Like most expansion teams, the Cowboys struggled at first. They failed to win a game in their inaugural season. However, Landry slowly brought the team to respectability. In 1965, they finally got to .500. They broke all the way through a year later, winning consecutive Eastern Conference titles in 1966 and 1967. However, they lost the NFL Championship Game each time to the Green Bay Packers with the second loss coming in the 1967 Ice Bowl. They would win consecutive division titles in 1968 and 1969 when the NFL adopted a divisional format, but were defeated in the playoffs both years by the Cleveland Browns.
From 1970 through 1979, the Cowboys won 105 regular season games, more than any other NFL franchise during that time span. In addition, they appeared in five Super Bowls, winning two (1971 and 1977).
Led by quarterback Craig Morton, the Cowboys had a 10–4 season in 1970. They defeated Detroit 5–0 in the lowest-scoring playoff game in NFL history and then defeated San Francisco 17–10 in the first-ever NFC Championship Game to qualify for their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, a mistake-filled Super Bowl V, where they lost 16–13 to the Baltimore Colts courtesy of a field goal by Colts' kicker Jim O'Brien with five seconds remaining in the contest. Despite the loss, linebacker Chuck Howley was named the Super Bowl MVP, the first and only time in Super Bowl history that the game's MVP did not come from the winning team.
==== Super Bowl VI champions (1971) ====
The Cowboys moved from the Cotton Bowl to Texas Stadium in week six of the 1971 season. Landry named Roger Staubach as the permanent starting quarterback to start the second half of the season, and Dallas was off and running. The Cowboys won their last seven regular season games (finishing 11–3) before dispatching the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs to return to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl VI, behind an MVP performance from Staubach and a then Super Bowl record 252 yards rushing, the Cowboys crushed the upstart Miami Dolphins, 24–3, to finally bury the "Next Year's Champions" stigma.
After missing the playoffs in 1974, the team drafted well the following year, adding defensive lineman Randy White (a future Hall of Fame member) and linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. The fresh influx of talent helped the Cowboys back to the playoffs in 1975 as a wild card, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21–17, in Super Bowl X.
==== Super Bowl XII champions (1977) ====
Dallas began the 1977 season 8–0, finishing 12–2. In the postseason, the Cowboys routed the Chicago Bears 37–7 and Minnesota Vikings 23–6 before defeating the Denver Broncos 27–10 in Super Bowl XII in New Orleans. As a testament to Doomsday's dominance in the hard-hitting game, defensive linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin were named co-Super Bowl MVPs, the first and only time multiple players have received the award. Dallas returned to the Super Bowl following the 1978 season, losing to Pittsburgh 35–31. Bob Ryan, an NFL Films editor, dubbed the Cowboys "America's Team" following the Super Bowl loss, a nickname that has earned derision from non-Cowboys fans but has stuck through both good times and bad. Danny White became the Cowboys' starting quarterback in 1980 after quarterback Roger Staubach retired. Despite going 12–4 in 1980, the Cowboys came into the playoffs as a wild card team. In the opening round of the 1980–81 NFL playoffs, they avenged their elimination from the prior year's playoffs by defeating the Rams. In the Divisional Round, they squeaked by the Atlanta Falcons 30–27. For the NFC Championship, they were pitted against division rival Philadelphia Eagles, the team that won the division during the regular season. The Eagles captured their first conference championship and Super Bowl berth by winning 20–7.
1981 brought another division championship for the Cowboys. They entered the 1981–82 NFL playoffs as the number 2 seed. Their first postseason saw them blow out Tampa Bay in a 38–0 shutout. The Cowboys then advanced to the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers, the number 1 seed. Despite having a late 4th quarter 27–21 lead, they would lose to the 49ers 28–27. 49ers quarterback Joe Montana led his team on an 89-yard game-winning touchdown drive, connecting with Dwight Clark in a play known as The Catch.
The 1982 season was shortened after a player strike. With a 6–3 record, Dallas made it to the playoffs for the 8th consecutive season. As the number 2 seed for the 1982–83 NFL playoffs, they eliminated the Buccaneers 30–17 in the Wild Card round and dispatched the Packers 37–26 in the Divisional round to advance to their 3rd consecutive Conference championship game. However, the third time was not the charm for the Cowboys as they fell 31–17 to their division rival and eventual Super Bowl XVII champions, the Washington Redskins.
Although it was not apparent at the time, the loss in the 1982 NFC title game marked the end of an era. For the 1983 season, the Cowboys went 12–4 and made it once again to the playoffs, but were upset at home in the Wild Card by the Rams 24–17. However, 1983 was a missed opportunity as prior to their playoff defeat, the Cowboys had a chance to clinch the NFC East and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs against Washington in the penultimate week of the regular season, but were defeated soundly 31–10 at home, and conceded control of the division to the Redskins in which they would not relinquish a week later. Prior to the 1984 season, Murchison sold the Cowboys to another Texas oil magnate, H.R. "Bum" Bright and his ten partners. Dallas posted a 9–7 record that season but missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons and only the second time in 18 years. After going 10–6 in 1985 and winning a division title, the Cowboys were shut out 20–0 by the Rams in the Divisional round in Los Angeles.
Hard times came for the organization as they went 7–9 in 1986, 7–8 in 1987, and 3–13 in 1988. During this time period, Bright became disenchanted with the team. During an embarrassing home loss to Atlanta in 1987, Bright told the media that he was "horrified" at Landry's play calling. During the savings and loan crisis, Bright's savings and loan was taken over by the FSLIC. With most of the rest of his money tied up in the Cowboys, Bright was forced to sell the team to Jerry Jones on February 25, 1989, for $150 million.
=== Jerry Jones era (1989–present) ===
==== Jimmy Johnson years (1989–1993) ====
Jones immediately fired Tom Landry, the only head coach in franchise history, replacing him with University of Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson, who was also Jones' teammate at the University of Arkansas as a fellow defensive lineman. The hiring of Johnson also reunited Johnson with second-year wide receiver Michael Irvin, who had played collegiately at Miami. With the first pick in the draft, the Cowboys selected UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman. Later that same year, they would trade veteran running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. Although the Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1–15 record, their worst in almost 30 years, "The Trade" later allowed Dallas to draft a number of impact players to rebuild the team.
Johnson quickly returned the Cowboys to the NFL's elite. Skillful drafts added fullback Daryl Johnston and center Mark Stepnoski in 1989, running back Emmitt Smith in 1990, defensive tackle Russell Maryland and offensive tackle Erik Williams in 1991, and safety Darren Woodson in 1992. The young talent joined holdovers from the Landry era such as wide receiver Michael Irvin, guard Nate Newton, linebacker Ken Norton Jr., and offensive lineman Mark Tuinei, defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat, and veteran pickups such as tight end Jay Novacek and defensive end Charles Haley.
Things started to look up for the franchise in 1990. On Week 1 Dallas won their first home game since September 1988 when they defeated the San Diego Chargers 17–14. They went 2–7 in their next 9 games but won 4 of their last 6 games to finish the season with a 4th place 7–9 record.
Coming into 1991 the Cowboys replaced offensive coordinator Dave Shula with Norv Turner; the Cowboys raced to a 6–5 start, then defeated the previously unbeaten Redskins despite injury to Troy Aikman. Backup Steve Beuerlein took over and the Cowboys finished 11–5. In the Wild Card round they defeated the Bears 17–13 for the Cowboys' first playoff win since 1982. In the Divisional round their season ended in a 38–6 playoff rout by the Lions.
==== Super Bowl XXVII champions (1992) ====
In 1992 Dallas set a team record for regular-season wins with a 13–3 mark. They started off the season by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion Redskins 23–10. Going into the playoffs as the number 2 seed they had a first-round bye before facing division rival the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys won that game 34–10 to advance to the NFC Conference Championship game for the first time in 10 years. They were pitted against the San Francisco 49ers, the top seed. On January 17, 1993, the Cowboys went to Candlestick Park and defeated the 49ers 30–20 to clinch their first Super Bowl berth since 1978. Dallas defeated the Buffalo Bills 52–17 in Super Bowl XXVII, during which they forced a record nine turnovers. Johnson became the first coach to claim a national championship in college football and a Super Bowl victory in professional football.
==== Super Bowl XXVIII champions (1993) ====
Despite starting the 1993 season 0–2, Dallas finished the regular season 12–4 as the number 1 seed of the NFC. Dallas sent a then-NFL record 11 players to the Pro Bowl in 1993: Aikman, safety Thomas Everett, Irvin, Johnston, Maryland, Newton, Norton, Novacek, Smith, Stepnoski, and Williams. They defeated the Green Bay Packers 27–17 in the divisional round. In the NFC Conference Championship, Dallas beat the 49ers in Dallas, 38–21. The Cowboys again defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII, 30–13 (becoming the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl after starting 0–2).
==== Barry Switzer years (1994–1997) ====
Only weeks after Super Bowl XXVIII, however, friction between Johnson and Jones culminated in Johnson stunning the football world by announcing his resignation. Jones then hired former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to replace Johnson. The Cowboys finished 12–4 in 1994. They once again clinched a first-round bye and defeated Green Bay 35–9 in the Divisional Round. They missed the Super Bowl, however, after losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, 38–28.
==== Super Bowl XXX champions (1995) ====
Prior to the start of 1995 season Jerry Jones lured All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders away from San Francisco. Dallas started the season 4–0 including shutting out their division rival New York Giants 35–0 at Giants Stadium to open their season. Emmitt Smith set an NFL record with 25 rushing touchdowns that season. They ended the season 12–4 and went into the playoffs as the number 1 seed. In the Divisional round, they dispatched their division rival Eagles 30–11 to advance to their fourth consecutive NFC Conference Championship Game, in which they defeated Green Bay, 38–27. In Super Bowl XXX the Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–17 at Sun Devil Stadium for their fifth Super Bowl championship, tied with the San Francisco 49ers for the most by any NFC team. Switzer joined Johnson as the only coaches to win a college football national championship and a Super Bowl.
The glory days of the Cowboys were again beginning to dim as free agency, age, and injuries began taking their toll. Star receiver Michael Irvin was suspended by the league for the first five games of 1996 following a drug-related arrest; he came back after the Cowboys started the season 2–3. They finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, won the NFC East title, and entered the playoffs as the number 3 seed in the NFC. They defeated Minnesota 40–15 in the Wild Card round but were eliminated in the Divisional Round of the playoffs 26–17 by the Carolina Panthers.
The Cowboys went 6–10 in 1997, losing the last six consecutive games of the season, with discipline and off-field problems becoming major distractions. As a result, Switzer resigned as head coach in January 1998 and former Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was hired to take his place.
==== Gailey and Campo years (1998–2002) ====
Gailey led the team to two playoff appearances with a 10–6 record in 1998 and an NFC East championship, the Cowboys' sixth in seven years, but the Cowboys were upset at home in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals 20–7.
In 1999 Dallas went 8–8 in a season that featured Irvin suffering a career-ending cervical spine injury in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Veterans Stadium. The season ended in a 27–10 Wild Card playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Gailey was fired and became the first Cowboys coach who did not take the team to a Super Bowl.
Defensive coordinator Dave Campo was promoted to head coach for the 2000 season. Prior to the season starting cornerback Deion Sanders was released after 5 seasons with the team. He later signed with the division rival Washington Redskins. In Week 1, they were blown out 41–14 by the Philadelphia Eagles. That game was very costly when veteran quarterback Troy Aikman suffered a serious concussion which ultimately ended his career. Longtime NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham filled in for Aikman for the rest of the season at quarterback. The Cowboys finished the season in 4th place with a 5–11 record. The only highlights of 2000 were Emmitt Smith having his 10th consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season and a season sweep over the Redskins.
2001 was another hard year in Dallas. Prior to the season starting Aikman was released from the team and he retired due to the concussions he had received. Jerry Jones signed Tony Banks as a quarterback. Banks had been a starter for half of the season the previous year for the Super Bowl XXXV champion Baltimore Ravens before being benched. Jones also drafted quarterback Quincy Carter in the second round of that year's draft, and Banks was released during the preseason. Ryan Leaf, Anthony Wright, and Clint Stoerner all competed for the quarterback position that season. Dallas again finished at 5–11, last place in the NFC East, but they swept the Washington Redskins for the 4th consecutive season.
Prior to the 2002 season Dallas drafted safety Roy Williams with the 8th overall pick. The season started out low as the Cowboys lost to the expansion Houston Texans 19–10 in Week 1. By far the highlight of 2002 was on October 28, when during a home game against the Seattle Seahawks, Emmitt Smith broke the all-time NFL rushing record previously held by Walter Payton. Their Thanksgiving Day win over the Washington Redskins was their 10th consecutive win against the Redskins. However, that was their final 2002 win as the team lost their next four games to finish with another last-place 5–11 record. The losing streak was punctuated with a Week 17 20–14 loss against the Redskins. That game was Smith's last game as a Cowboys player; he was released during the offseason. Campo was immediately fired as head coach at the conclusion of the season.
==== Bill Parcells years (2003–2006) ====
Jones then lured Bill Parcells out of retirement to coach the Cowboys. The Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season getting off to a hot 7–2 start, but went 3–4 for the rest of the season. They were able to grab the second NFC wild-card spot with a 10–6 record but lost in the Wild Card round to eventual conference champion Carolina Panthers, 29–10.
In 2004 Dallas was unable to replicate their 2003 success and ended 6–10. Quincy Carter was released during the preseason and was replaced at quarterback by Vinny Testaverde.
Dallas got off to a great 7–3 start for the 2005 season but ended up only in 3rd place with a 9–7 record. Prior to the beginning of that season, they signed veteran Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback.
2006 was an interesting year for the Cowboys. Prior to the season, they signed free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens who was talented yet controversial. The Cowboys started the season 3–2. During a week 7 matchup against the New York Giants, Bledsoe, who had been struggling since the start of the season, was pulled from the game and was replaced by backup Tony Romo. Romo was unable to salvage that game and Dallas lost 36–22. However, Romo was named the starter for the team and went 5–1 in his first 6 games. Dallas ended the season with a 9–7 2nd-place finish. They were able to clinch the number 5 playoff seed. They traveled to play the Seattle Seahawks where the Seahawks won 21–20. After the season Parcells retired and was replaced by Wade Phillips.
==== Wade Phillips years (2007–2010) ====
Dallas started the 2007 season with a bang, winning their first five games. They won 12 of their first 13 games, with their only loss during that span being to the New England Patriots, who went undefeated that season. Despite dropping two of their last three regular-season games, the Cowboys clinched their first number 1 NFC seed in 12 years, which also granted them a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They lost in the divisional round 21–17 to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
In the tumultuous 2008 season, the Cowboys started off strong, going 3–0 for the second straight year, en route to a 4–1 start. However, things soon went downhill from there, after quarterback Tony Romo suffered a broken pinkie in an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. With Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger playing as backups, Dallas went 1–2 during a three-game stretch. Romo's return showed promise, as Dallas went 3–0. However, injuries mounted during the season, with the team losing several starters for the year, such as Kyle Kosier, Felix Jones, safety Roy Williams, punter Mat McBriar, and several other starters playing with injuries. Entering December, the 8–4 Cowboys underperformed, finishing 1–3. They failed to make the playoffs after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the final regular-season game which saw the Eagles reach the playoffs instead.
On May 2, 2009, the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility collapsed during a wind storm. The collapse left twelve Cowboys players and coaches injured. The most serious injuries were special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, who suffered fractured cervical vertebrae and had surgery to stabilize fractured vertebrae in his neck, and Rich Behm, the team's 33-year-old scouting assistant, who was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed.
The 2009 season started positively with a road win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but fortunes quickly changed as Dallas fell to a 2–2 start. In week five, with starting wide receiver Roy Williams sidelined by injury, receiver Miles Austin got his first start of the season and had a record-setting day (250 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns) to help lead Dallas to an overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Following their bye week, they went on a three-game winning streak including wins over the Atlanta Falcons and NFC East division rival Philadelphia Eagles. Despite entering December with a record of 8–3, they lost their slim grip on 1st place in the division with losses to the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers. Talks of past December collapses resurfaced, and another collapse in 2009 seemed validated. However, the team surged in the final three weeks of the season with a 24–17 victory against the eventual Super Bowl XLIV champion New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome, ending the Saints' previously unbeaten season in week 15. For the first time in franchise history, they posted back-to-back shutouts when they beat their division rivals, the Washington Redskins (17–0) and Philadelphia Eagles (24–0) to end the season. In the process, the Cowboys clinched their second NFC East title in three years as well as the third seed in the NFC Playoffs. Six days later, in the wild-card round of the playoffs, Dallas played the Eagles in a rematch of week 17. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles for the first Cowboys post-season win since the 1996 season, ending a streak of six consecutive NFL post-season losses. However, their playoff run ended after being routed 34–3 in the Divisional Round against the Minnesota Vikings.
After beginning the 2010 season at 1–7, Phillips was fired as head coach and was replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett as the interim head coach.
==== Jason Garrett years (2010–2019) ====
With Garrett as interim head coach, the Cowboys finished the 2010 season 6–10 after beginning at 1–7. With this improvement, the Cowboys signed Garrett as the head coach for the 2011 season.
To start the 2011 season the Cowboys played the New York Jets on a Sunday night primetime game in New York, on September 11. The Cowboys held the lead through most of the game, until a fumble, blocked punt, and interception led to the Jets coming back to win the game. In week 2 the Cowboys traveled to San Francisco to play the San Francisco 49ers. In the middle of the 2nd quarter, while the Cowboys trailed 10–7, Tony Romo suffered a rib injury and was replaced by Jon Kitna. Kitna threw 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions until Romo returned in the 3rd quarter as Dallas trailed 17–7. Romo then threw 3 touchdown passes to Miles Austin as the Cowboys rallied to send the game into overtime. On their opening possession after a 49ers punt, Romo found wide receiver Jesse Holley on a 78-yard pass, which set up the game-winning field goal by rookie kicker Dan Bailey. The Cowboys ended the season 8–8. They were in a position to win the NFC East but lost to the New York Giants in a Week 17 primetime Sunday Night game on NBC which allowed the Giants to win the division. The Giants would go on to win Super Bowl XLVI.
The Cowboys started off the 2012 season on a high note by defeating the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants 24–17 on the opening night of the season. They would hover around the .500 mark for the majority of the season. They lost a close Week 6 game to eventual Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens 31–29 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Going into Week 17 they found themselves once again one win away from winning the division. Standing in their way were the Washington Redskins, who had beaten them on Thanksgiving at AT&T Stadium and who were one win away from their first division title since 1999. Led by Robert Griffin III the Redskins defeated the Cowboys at home 28–18. Dallas once again finished the season 8–8.
In the 2013 season the Cowboys started off by defeating the New York Giants for the second straight year; this time 36–31. It was the first time since 2008 that the Cowboys were able to defeat the Giants at home. The win was punctuated by Brandon Carr intercepting an Eli Manning pass for a touchdown late in the 4th quarter. For the third straight year, Dallas once again found itself stuck in the .500 area. In Week 5, they lost a shootout to the eventual AFC champion Denver Broncos 51–48. They battled it out with the Philadelphia Eagles for control of the division throughout the season. In December however they lost 2 crucial back-to-back games to the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. They were very successful in division games having a 5–0 division record heading into another Week 17 showdown for the NFC East crown against the Eagles. That included beating the Washington Redskins 24–23 on Week 16 thanks to the late-game heroics of Tony Romo. However, Romo received a severe back injury in that game which prematurely ended his season. The Cowboys called upon backup quarterback Kyle Orton to lead them into battle on the final week of the season. Orton was unsuccessful who threw a game-ending interception to the Eagles which allowed the Eagles to win 24–22. Dallas ended the year at 8–8 for the third year in a row. The two differences from this 8–8 ending compared to the others was that Dallas ended the season in second place compared to the 2 previous 3rd-place finishes, along with their season-ending defeat taking place at home instead of on the road.
To start off the 2014 season Dallas began by losing to the San Francisco 49ers 28–17. After that, they went on a 6-game winning streak. The highlight of this streak was defeating the Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field 30–23. In Week 8, the Washington Redskins ended the Cowboys' winning streak by winning in overtime 20–17, and Romo injured his back again. He missed next week, a home loss to the Arizona Cardinals 28–17 with backup quarterback Brandon Weeden. Romo returned in Week 9 to lead a 31–17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England as part of the NFL International Series. Dallas played their traditional Thanksgiving home game against their division rival Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams were vying for first place in the division with identical 8–3 records. The Eagles got off to a fast start and the Cowboys were unable to catch up, losing 33–10. They would rebound the next week when they defeated the Chicago Bears 41–28. Week 15 was a rematch against 1st place Philadelphia. This time it was the Cowboys who got off to a fast start going up 21–0. Then the Eagles put up 24 points but Dallas came back to win 38–27 to go into first place for the first time in the season and improve to 10–4. Going into their Week 16 matchup at home against the Indianapolis Colts, Dallas was in a position to clinch their first division title since 2009 by defeating the Colts 42-7 and the Eagles losing that week to the Redskins. They became the 2014 NFC East Champions, eliminating the Eagles from the playoffs. Dallas ended the regular season with a 12–4 record and an 8–0 away record when they won on the road against Washington 44–17.
On January 4, 2015, the Cowboys, as the number 3 seed, hosted the number 6 seed Detroit Lions in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. In the game, the Lions got off to a hot start, going up 14–0 in the first quarter. Dallas initially struggled on both sides of the ball. However, towards the end of the second quarter, Romo threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams. Matt Prater of the Lions would kick a field goal before halftime to go up 17–7. Dallas came out swinging to start the second half by picking off Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford on the first play of the third quarter. However, the Cowboys failed to capitalize on the turnover, as Dan Bailey missed a field goal during Dallas's ensuing drive. Detroit then kicked another field goal to make the score 20–7. A DeMarco Murray touchdown later in that quarter closed the gap to 20–14. A 51-yard Bailey field goal almost 3 minutes into the fourth quarter trimmed the Cowboys' deficit to 3. The Lions got the ball back and started driving down the field. On 3rd down-and-1 of that Lions drive, Stafford threw a 17-yard pass intended for Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew, but the ball hit Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens in the back a fraction of a second before he ran into Pettigrew. The play was initially flagged as defensive pass interference against Hitchens. However, the penalty was then nullified by the officiating crew. The Cowboys got the ball back on their 41-yard line and had a successful 59-yard drive which was capped off by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Romo to Williams to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game at 24–20. The Lions got the ball back with less than 2:30 to play in regulation. Stafford fumbled the ball at the 2-minute mark. The fumble was recovered by Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who then fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Lions. Lawrence would redeem himself by sacking Stafford on a 4th down-and-3 play. The sack led to Stafford fumbling the ball again, which Lawrence recovered to seal the game for the Cowboys, who won 24–20. This was the first time in franchise playoff history that Dallas had been down by 10 or more points at halftime and rallied to win the game.
The following week, the Cowboys traveled to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin to play the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round. Despite having a 14–7 halftime lead, the Cowboys fell to the Packers 26–21, thus ending their season. The season ended on an overturned call of a completed catch by Dez Bryant. The catch was challenged by the Packers, and the referees overturned the call because of the "Calvin Johnson rule".
During the 2015 offseason the Cowboys allowed running back DeMarco Murray to become a free agent. Murray signed with the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. On July 15 wide receiver Dez Bryant signed a 5-year, $70 million contract.
The Cowboys started the 2015 season at home against the New York Giants, in which Dallas won 27–26. Dez Bryant left the game early with a fractured bone in his foot. On the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, Romo suffered a broken left collarbone, the same one he injured in 2010, and Brandon Weeden replaced him. Dallas won 20–10 to begin the season 2–0, but then went on a seven-game losing streak. They finished the season 4–12 and last in their division.
In 2016, after a preseason injury to Tony Romo, rookie quarterback Dak Prescott was slated as the starting quarterback, as Romo was expected to be out 6–8 weeks. In week 1 against the New York Giants, Dallas lost 20–19. After this loss, Dallas would go on an eleven-game winning streak. After much speculation leading to a potential quarterback controversy, Romo made an announcement that Prescott had earned the right to take over as the Cowboys starting quarterback.
In game 10, Romo suited up for the first time in the season and was the backup quarterback. Dallas defeated the Baltimore Ravens to win their 9th straight game, breaking a franchise record of 8 straight games set in 1977. It also marked rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott breaking Tony Dorsett's single-season rushing record for a Cowboys rookie. Prescott also tied an NFL rookie record held by Russell Wilson and Dan Marino by throwing multiple touchdowns in 5 straight games. Dallas finished 13–3, tying their best 16-game regular-season record. While Dallas defeated the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in week 6, the Packers would win at AT&T Stadium in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on a last-second field goal, ending the Cowboys' season.
Dak Prescott was named NFL Rookie of the Year in the NFL honors on February 4, 2017, and Ezekiel Elliott led the league in rushing yards. Jason Garrett was named Coach of the Year. Both Prescott and Elliott made the 2017 Pro Bowl. This is the first time the Cowboys sent two rookies to the Pro Bowl.
2017 was the first season since 2002 without quarterback Tony Romo, who retired on April 4 after 14 seasons with the Cowboys. The season also featured second-year running back Ezekiel Elliott being suspended for 6 games after violating the league's conduct policy. The suspension was to begin at the start of the year but was pushed back to November. The Cowboys finished the year at 9-7 without making the playoffs. Following the season, Dez Bryant was released after eight seasons in Dallas and tight end Jason Witten, who holds several franchise receiving records, retired after 15 seasons, ending an era.
The Dallas Cowboys' 2017 season was the subject of the third season of Amazon's sports documentary series All or Nothing. The series is produced by NFL Films.
In the 2018 season, the Cowboys finished with a 10–6 record and won the NFC East. In the Wild Card Round, the Cowboys defeated the Seattle Seahawks 24–22 before losing 30–22 to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round.
==== Mike McCarthy years (2020–2024) ====
Following the end of the 2019 season, where the Cowboys missed the playoffs for the 7th time in the last 10 seasons, it was announced that the team had parted ways with longtime head coach Jason Garrett. Both Marvin Lewis (former Bengals coach) and Mike McCarthy (former Packers coach who led Green Bay to a Super Bowl win) were interviewed for the head coaching position.
McCarthy and the Cowboys picked up the first win against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2. On October 11, the Cowboys' 2020 season was all but lost when quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a grievous ankle injury that ended his season. Despite the loss of Prescott, McCarthy's first year Cowboys still remained in the running for a playoff appearance throughout most of the regular season. They would go on to finish the season with a 6–10 record, which ranked the team third in the NFC East Division. Throughout the 2020 season, the Cowboys' defense struggled massively. Following the season, defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and defensive line coach Jim Tomsula were dismissed.
The Cowboys' 2021 season resulted in the first winning season since 2018, and with the San Francisco 49ers' Week 16 loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Cowboys clinched their first playoff berth also since 2018. Following a Denver Broncos' loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Cowboys clinched the NFC East, based on strength-of-victory tiebreakers; this was their first division title since 2018. They swept the NFC East for the first time since 1998. Rookie Micah Parsons was awarded as Defensive Rookie of the Year, and contributed to a league-leading defense. The Cowboys' strong offense finished the year with 530 points, the most in the league, and a team record. They finished the season with a 12–5 record, their best since 2016. But despite high expectations, the Cowboys lost in the wild card round of the playoffs to the San Francisco 49ers 23–17.
The 2022 season saw a repeat of the 12–5 record. Despite losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15, the Cowboys clinched a playoff berth after a loss by the Washington Commanders later that day. This marked the first time since 2006–2007 the Cowboys qualified for the postseason in consecutive seasons. Quarterback Dak Prescott was awarded as Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, for his contributions to the community and charity. In the wild-card round of the playoffs, the Cowboys defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win their first road playoff game since their Super Bowl-winning 1992 season, and ended their winless streak against Tom Brady in what proved to be Brady's last game in his career. However, they were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers for the second consecutive season, this time in the divisional round, their seventh consecutive divisional round defeat.
On February 16, 2022, a settlement of $2.4 million was paid after four cheerleaders accused Rich Dalrymple, the now-retired senior vice president of public relations and communications, of voyeurism in their locker room as they undressed during a 2015 event at AT&T Stadium.
After the NFL allowed teams to seek blockchain sponsorships, the Cowboys became the first team to do so, signing a multi-year contract with the platform Blockchain.com on April 13, 2022.
In 2023, the Cowboys again achieved a 12–5 record, for the third year in a row. The team won the NFC East division for the first time since the 2021 season and the second time in three seasons. They ended up in a three-way tie with the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions for first place in the NFC at 12–5. However, they lost the conference record tiebreaker to the 49ers but won the head to head tiebreaker over the Lions, giving them the second seed in the playoffs. Although the Cowboys lost to the Buffalo Bills in Week 15, they clinched their third straight playoff berth before taking the field when the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers, respectively. This marked the Cowboys' first run of three consecutive postseason appearances since appearing in six straight from 1991 to 1996. However, the Cowboys collapsed in the playoffs, and, despite having one of the best-ranked offenses and defenses of the league, were defeated 48–32 by their rival, seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round, at one point trailing 48–16 during the fourth quarter. With the loss, the Cowboys became the first team to lose to a #7 seed since the playoff bracket expanded for the 2020–21 NFL playoffs. This also marked the first time a team failed to reach a Conference Championship Game despite winning at least 12 games in three consecutive seasons. On January 13, 2025, it was announced that McCarthy would not be returning as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys due to a contract dispute.
==== Brian Schottenheimer years (2025–present) ====
On January 24, 2025, it was announced that Brian Schottenheimer had been promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach.
== Thanksgiving Day games ==
In their seventh season in 1966, the Cowboys agreed to host a second NFL Thanksgiving game; the tradition of a team hosting on Thanksgiving had been popularized by the Detroit Lions (who had hosted a game on the day mostly un-interrupted since moving to Detroit in 1934). General manager Tex Schramm wanted to find a way to boost publicity on a national level for his team, which had struggled for most of the 1960s. In fact, the NFL guaranteed a cut of the gate revenue in the belief that the game would not be a hit because of said struggle. With a kickoff just after 5 p.m. CST, over eighty thousand fans (and millions viewing on CBS) saw the Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns 26–14 at the Cotton Bowl.
In 1975 and 1977, at the behest of Commissioner Pete Rozelle, the St. Louis Cardinals replaced Dallas as a host team. Dallas then hosted St. Louis in 1976 in an effort by the NFL to give St. Louis national exposure. Although the Cardinals, at the time known as the "Cardiac Cards" due to their propensity for winning very close games, were a modest success at the time, the games did not prove as successful. Owing to factors that ranged from ugly contests to opposition from the Kirkwood–Webster Groves Turkey Day Game (a local high school football contest) led to Dallas resuming regular hosting duties in 1978. It was then, after Rozelle asked Dallas to resume hosting Thanksgiving games, that the Cowboys requested (and received) an agreement guaranteeing the Cowboys a spot on Thanksgiving Day for good; as such, the Cowboys play in the late afternoon.
== Logos and uniforms ==
=== Logo ===
The Dallas Cowboys' blue star logo, which represents Texas as "The Lone Star State", is one of the most well-known team logos in professional sports. The blue star originally was a solid shape until a white line and blue border were added in 1964. The logo has remained the same since. Today, the blue star has been extended to not only the Dallas Cowboys, but owner Jerry Jones' defunct AFL team, the Dallas Desperados that used a similar logo based on that of the Cowboys. The blue star also is used on other entries like an imaging facility and storage facility.
=== Uniforms ===
The Dallas Cowboys' white home jersey has royal blue (PMS 287 C) solid socks, numbers, lettering, and two stripes on the sleeves outlined in black. The home pants are a common metallic silver-green color (PMS 8280 C) that helps bring out the blue in the uniform. The navy (PMS 289 C) road jerseys (nicknamed the "Stars and Stripes" jersey) have white lettering and numbers with navy pinstripes. A white/gray/white stripe is on each sleeve as well as the collared V-neck, and a Cowboys star logo is placed upon the stripes. A "Cowboys" chest crest is directly under the NFL shield. The away pants are a pearlish metallic-silver color (PMS 8180 C) and like the home pants, enhance the navy in the uniforms. The team uses a serifed font for the lettered player surnames on the jersey nameplates.
The team's helmets are also a unique silver with a tint of blue known as "Metallic Silver Blue" (PMS 8240 C) and have a blue/white/blue vertical stripe placed upon the center of the crown. The Cowboys also include a unique, if subtle, feature on the back of the helmet: a blue strip of Dymo tape with the player's name embossed, placed on the white portion of the stripe at the back of the helmet.
==== Home and away uniform history ====
When the Dallas Cowboys franchise debuted in 1960, the team's uniform included a white helmet adorned with a simple blue star and a blue-white-blue stripe down the center crown. The team donned blue jerseys with white sleeves and a small blue star on each shoulder for home games and the negative opposite for away games. Their socks also had two horizontal white stripes overlapping the blue.
In 1964, the Cowboys opted for a simpler look (adopting essentially the team's current uniform) by changing their jersey/socks to one solid color with three horizontal stripes on the sleeves; the white jersey featured royal blue stripes with a narrow black border, the royal blue jersey white stripes with the same black outline. The star-shouldered jerseys were eliminated; "TV" numbers appeared just above the jersey stripes. The new helmet was silver-blue, with a blue-white-blue tri-stripe down the center (the middle white stripe was thicker). The blue "lone star" logo was retained, but with a white border setting it off from the silver/blue. The new pants were silver/blue, with a blue-white-blue tri-stripe. In 1964, the NFL allowed teams to wear white jerseys at home; several teams did so, and the Cowboys have worn white at home ever since, except on certain and special "throwback" days.
In 1966, the team modified the jerseys, which now featured only two sleeve stripes, slightly wider; the socks followed the same pattern. In 1967 the "lone star" helmet decal added a blue outline to the white-bordered star, giving the logo a bigger, bolder look. The logo and this version of the uniform have seen little change to the present day.
The only notable changes from 1970 to the present were:
1970 to 1973: The "TV" numbers were moved from the shoulders to the sleeves above the stripes (the TV numbers returned to the shoulders on the white jerseys in 1974, but remained on the sleeves of the blue jerseys through 1978).
1982 to 1988: The pants featured a white uniform number in an elliptical blue circle worn near the hip.
the removal of the indented serifs on the front and back jersey numbers in the early 1980s (seen currently on the throwback jersey)
1980: The blue jersey was rendered in a slightly darker shade than the 1964–79 version; from 1981 to 1994 the dark jerseys sported numbers that were gray with white borders and a blue pinstripe. The stripes on the sleeves and socks also used the same gray with white border scheme (sans navy pinstripe).
1982 to present: Player names on jersey backs, which were originally in block-letter style, were slightly smaller and in a footed "serif" style.
1996 to present: The blue jersey features white/gray/white stripes on each sleeve and the collared V-neck, the Cowboys star logo placed upon the sleeve stripes, white lettering and numbers with navy pinstripes, and the "Cowboys" wordmark in the center of the neckline. The "Cowboys" wordmark was also placed at that same spot on the white jersey from 1996 to 1998.
During the 1976 season, the blue-white-blue stripe on the crown of the helmets was temporarily changed to red-white-blue to commemorate the United States' bicentennial anniversary. This stripe configuration returned in 2021 and is now worn for one regular season game annually when the team pays tribute to Medal of Honor recipients.
In 1994, the NFL celebrated their 75th Anniversary, and the Dallas Cowboys celebrated their back-to-back Super Bowl titles by unveiling a white "Double-Star" jersey on Thanksgiving Day. This jersey was used for special occasions and was worn throughout the 1994–95 playoffs. During the same season, the Cowboys also wore their 1960–63 road jersey with a silver helmet for one game as part of a league-wide "throwback" policy.
During the 1995 season, the team wore the navy "Double-Star" jersey for games at Washington and Philadelphia and permanently switched to solid color socks (royal blue for the white uniform, and navy blue for the dark uniform). The navy "Double-Star" jersey was not seen again until the NFL's Classic Throwback Weekend on Thanksgiving Day 2001–2003.
In 2004, the Cowboys resurrected their original 1960–1963 uniform on Thanksgiving Day. This uniform became the team's alternate or "third jersey" and was usually worn at least once a year, primarily Thanksgiving Day. Two exceptions were when the Cowboys wore their normal white uniforms on Thanksgiving in 2007 and 2008. While the team didn't wear the throwback uniform exactly on Thanksgiving Day in those two years, Dallas wore them on a date around Thanksgiving for those two years. In 2007 Dallas wore the throwback uniform on November 29, 2007, against the Green Bay Packers. In 2008 Dallas wore the throwback uniform on November 23, 2008, against the San Francisco 49ers. The team went back to wearing this uniform at home on Thanksgiving Day in 2009 while their opponent was the Oakland Raiders who wore their AFL Legacy Weekend throwbacks. Dallas wore this alternate uniform on October 11, 2009, as part of one of the NFL's AFL Legacy Weekends when they traveled to Kansas City to play the Chiefs who were sporting their AFL Dallas Texans' uniforms. This created a rare game in which neither team wore a white jersey and the first time the Cowboys wore the alternative uniform as a visiting team. The 1960–1963 uniform may also be used on other special occasions. Other instances include the 2005 Monday Night game against the Washington Redskins when the team inducted Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irving into the Cowboys Ring of Honor, and the 2006 Christmas Day game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
In 2013, the NFL issued a new helmet rule stating that players would no longer be allowed to use alternate helmets due to the league's enhanced concussion awareness. This caused the Cowboys' white 1960s throwback helmets to become non-compliant. However, this rule became moot in 2022 when the NFL once again allowed teams to use an alternate helmet again, and the Cowboys reintroduced the 1960s white helmet.
During the "one-shell era", in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, the team wore their normal blue jerseys at home for Thanksgiving; the only exceptions were in 2015 and 2020 when the Cowboys wore the "Color Rush" uniforms (see below), and in 2018, 2019 and 2021 when they wore their regular white uniforms. In 2017, the team initially announced that they will wear blue jerseys at home on a more regular basis, only to rescind soon after.
In 2015, the Cowboys released their Color Rush uniform, featuring a variation of the 1990s "Double Star" alternates with white pants and socks. The uniform was first used in a Thanksgiving game against the Carolina Panthers and in subsequent Thursday Night Football games since 2016. In 2022, the "Color Rush" uniforms would be worn with a white helmet; this design would emulate their current silver helmets but without any silver elements.
The Cowboys also unveiled a navy uniform-white pants combination which was first used on December 10, 2017, against the Giants. On Christmas Day in 2025 at the Commanders, the Cowboys wore this combination with their "Arctic White" alternate helmets; this was after the NFL allowed teams to wear their alternate helmets with the primary uniforms and vice versa.
In 1964, Tex Schramm started the tradition of the Cowboys wearing their white jersey at home, contrary to an unofficial rule that teams should wear colored jerseys at home. Schramm did this because he wanted fans to see a variety of opponents' colors at home games.
According to current Cowboys' Equipment Director, Mike McCord, another reason why the team chose to wear white uniforms at home was because of the intense Texas heat during the early part of the season at Texas Stadium.
Throughout the years, the Cowboys' blue jersey has been popularly viewed to be "jinxed" because the team often seemed to lose when they wore them. This purported curse drew attention after the team lost Super Bowl V with the blue jerseys. However, the roots of the curse likely date back earlier to the 1968 divisional playoffs, when the blue-shirted Cowboys were upset by the Cleveland Browns in what turned out to be Don Meredith's final game with the Cowboys. Another example was a 1976 regular season road game against the St. Louis Cardinals, in which the Cardinals elected to wear white as the home team and promptly defeated the then-undefeated Cowboys 21–17 for their first loss in six games.
Since the white home uniform tradition began in 1964, the only season Dallas never wore blue uniforms in a regular season game was in the 1972 season, even though they wore them thrice in the preseason. The only other times Dallas wore blue in one regular season game came in 1968, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1998, 2010, and 2020. Conversely, the 2019 season saw Dallas wear their blue uniforms eight times, the most of any season.
Since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, league rules were changed to allow the Super Bowl home team to pick their choice of jersey. Most of the time, Dallas will wear their blue jerseys when they visit Washington, Philadelphia (sometimes), Miami, or one of the handful of other teams that traditionally wear their white jerseys at home during the first half of the season due to the hot climates in their respective cities or other means. Occasionally opposing teams will wear their white jerseys at home to try to invoke the curse, such as when the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game, as well as their November 4, 2007, meeting. Various other teams followed suit in the 1980s.
Although Dallas has made several tweaks to their blue jerseys over the years, Schramm said he did not believe in the curse. Since the league began allowing teams to use an alternate jersey, the Cowboys' alternates have been primarily blue versions of past jerseys and the Cowboys have generally had success when wearing these blue alternates. With the implementation of the 2013 NFL helmet rule for alternate jerseys, the team decided instead to wear their regular blue jerseys for their Thanksgiving game, something they have not done at home since Schramm started the white-jersey-at-home tradition.
As of the 2025 season, the Cowboys have a cumulative 101–104–3 regular season record in their blue uniforms. They are also 17–14 at home while wearing the blue uniforms since 2001. The Cowboys also sport a 9–5 record when wearing the primary blue uniform/white pants combination since its 2017 debut.
The Cowboys are 2–6 in playoff games while wearing the blue uniforms. The only victories with the blue uniforms came in the 1978 NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, and the 2022 NFC Wild Card Round against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
==== Thanksgiving Day uniforms ====
With the Dallas Cowboys traditionally hosting Thanksgiving Day games, the team donned new uniforms when they unveiled their white "Double-Star" jersey for the first time on November 24, 1994. This game later became synonymous with future Cowboys Head Coach (2010–2019); then 3rd string Quarterback Jason Garrett as he led a come-from-behind victory against the Green Bay Packers.
In the 2004 season, the team went further into Cowboys history by choosing to don blue jerseys worn in their first 4 years of existence, which included white helmets and pants. However, keeping consistent with modern marketing, navy blue was used for this version as opposed to the original 1960-1963 royal color jersey. Aside from the 2007 and 2008 seasons, the Cowboys continued to use this "throwback" uniform through Thanksgiving Day 2012.
Before the start of the 2013 season, the NFL announced a "One-helmet" rule to help prevent potential player concussions. This regulation also prevented the Cowboys from pairing the white helmets with the throwback uniforms, as the team will often use the traditional silver-blue as their primary helmets throughout the season.
In the 2015 season, the Cowboys chose to wear a variation of the 1994 "Double-Star" jersey as their Color Rush on Thanksgiving Day against the Carolina Panthers on November 26, 2015. Since then, the Color Rush was only used again on Thanksgiving against the Washington Football Team on November 26, 2020. In all other seasons, the team opted to wear their standard white or blue uniforms.
In 2022, the NFL restored the use of alternate helmets and the Cowboys reinstated the white helmet and navy 'throwback" uniforms on November 24, 2022, against the New York Giants.
== Stadiums ==
=== Cotton Bowl ===
The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1932 and became known as "The House That Doak Built" due to the immense crowds that former SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s. Originally known as the Fair Park Bowl, it is located in Fair Park, site of the State Fair of Texas. Concerts or other events using a stage allow the playing field to be used for additional spectators. The Cotton Bowl was the longtime home of the annual Cotton Bowl Classic college football bowl game, for which the stadium is named. (Beginning with the January 2010 game, the Cotton Bowl Classic has been played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.) The Dallas Cowboys called the Cotton Bowl home for 11 years, from the team's formation in 1960 until 1971, when the Cowboys moved to Texas Stadium. It is the only Cowboys stadium within the Dallas city limits. The Cowboys hosted the Green Bay Packers for the 1966 NFL Championship at the Cotton Bowl.
=== Texas Stadium ===
For the majority of the franchise's history the Cowboys played their home games at Texas Stadium. Just outside the city of Dallas, the stadium was located in Irving. The stadium opened on October 24, 1971, at a cost of $35 million and with a seating capacity of 65,675. The stadium was famous for its hole-in-the-roof dome. The roof's worn paint had become so unsightly in the early 2000s that it was repainted in the summer of 2006 by the City of Irving. It was the first time the famed roof was repainted since Texas Stadium opened. The roof was structurally independent from the stadium it covered. The Cowboys lost their final game at Texas Stadium to the Baltimore Ravens, 33–24, on December 20, 2008. After Cowboys Stadium was opened in 2009, the Cowboys turned over the facility to the City of Irving.
In 2009, it was replaced as home of the Cowboys by Cowboys Stadium, which officially opened on May 27, 2009, in Arlington. Texas Stadium was demolished by implosion on April 11, 2010.
=== AT&T Stadium ===
AT&T Stadium, previously named Cowboys Stadium, is a domed stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington. After failed negotiations to build a new stadium on the site of the Cotton Bowl, Jerry Jones, along with the city of Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, funded the stadium at a cost of $1.3 billion. The stadium is located in Tarrant County, the first time the Cowboys has called a stadium home outside of Dallas County. It was completed on May 29, 2009, and seats 80,000, but is expandable to seat up to 100,000. AT&T Stadium is among the largest domed stadiums in the world.
A highlight of AT&T Stadium is its gigantic, center-hung high-definition television screen, at one point the largest in the world. The 160 by 72 feet (49 by 22 m), 11,520-square-foot (1,070 m2) scoreboard surpassed the 8,736 ft2 (812 m2) screen that opened in 2009 at the renovated Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City as the world's largest. In 2011, Charlotte Motor Speedway unveiled its plans for a new HDTV screen larger than the one in AT&T Stadium; that larger screen has since been completed.
At the debut pre-season game of Cowboys Stadium, a punt by Tennessee Titans kicker, A. J. Trapasso, hit the 2,100 in. screen above the field. The punt deflected and was ruled in-play until Titans coach Jeff Fisher informed the officials that the punt struck the scoreboard. (Many believe Trapasso was trying to hit the suspended scoreboard, based on replays and the angle of the kick.) The scoreboard is, however, within the regulation of the NFL guidelines – hanging approximately five feet above the minimum height. No punts hit the scoreboard during the entire 2009 regular season during an actual game. Also, on August 22, 2009, the day after AJ Trapasso hit the screen, many fans touring the facility noted that half of the field was removed with large cranes re-positioning the screen. According to some fans, a tour guide explained that Jerry Jones invited a few professional soccer players to drop kick soccer balls to try to hit the screen. Once he observed them hitting it consistently he had the screen moved up another 10 feet.
The first regular season home game of the 2009 season was against the New York Giants. A league record-setting 105,121 fans showed up to fill Cowboys Stadium for the game before which the traditional "blue star" at the 50-yard line was unveiled for the first time; however, the Cowboys lost in the final seconds, 33–31.
The Cowboys got their first regular-season home win on September 28, 2009. They beat the Carolina Panthers 21–7 with 90,588 in attendance. The game was televised on ESPN's Monday Night Football and marked a record 42nd win for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
On July 25, 2013, the Cowboys announced that AT&T would be taking over the rights to the name of the stadium.
== Training camp sites ==
Dallas Cowboys training camp locations:
1960: Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon
1961: St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota
1962: Northern Michigan College, Marquette, Michigan
1963–1989: California Lutheran College, Thousand Oaks, California
1990–1997: St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas
1998–2002: Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas
2001, 2004–2006, 2008, 2012–2015: River Ridge Sports Complex, Oxnard, California
2002–2003, 2007, 2009: The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
2010–2011: The Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas and River Ridge Sports Complex, Oxnard, California
2016–present: The Ford Center at The Star, Frisco, Texas
== Nationwide fanbase ==
=== Fan support ===
Ever since the team joined the NFL in 1960, the franchise have garnered strong fan support in both the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the state of Texas. With its strong fanbase across the country, including the notable presence of fans at road games, the Cowboys are often referred to as "America's Team".
=== Criticism ===
Despite the historical success of the franchise and a large Cowboys' fanbase, many fans of other NFL teams have come to dislike the Cowboys. Over the years, the Cowboys' fanbase had been labeled as the most annoying in all of sports. ESPN host and commentator Stephen A. Smith has validated this claim.
== Rivalries ==
The NFC East, composed of the Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Commanders and New York Giants, is one of the least-changed divisions of the original six formed in the wake of the NFL-AFL merger (its only major changes being the relocation of the Cardinals franchise from St. Louis to Arizona and its subsequent move to the NFC West in the league's 2002 realignment). Three of the four teams have been division rivals since the Cowboys' entry into the NFL. As such, the Cowboys have some of the longest and fiercest rivalries in the sport.
=== Divisional ===
==== Washington Commanders ====
The Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys enjoy what has been called by Sports Illustrated the top NFL rivalry of all time and "one of the greatest in sports". Some sources trace the enmity to before the Cowboys were even formed, due to a longstanding disagreement between Washington owner George Preston Marshall and Cowboys founder Clint Murchison, Jr. over the creation of a new football team in the South, due to Marshall's TV monopoly in that region. The two teams' storied on-field rivalry goes back to 1960 when the two clubs first played each other, resulting in a 26–14 Washington victory. Since that time, the two teams have met in 126 regular-season contests and two NFC Championships. Dallas leads the regular season all-time series 78–46–2, and Washington leads the all-time playoff series 2–0. The Cowboys currently have a 14–7 advantage over Washington at FedEx Field. Some notable moments in the rivalry include Washington's victory over Dallas in the 1982 NFC Championship and the latter's 1989 win over Washington for their only victory that season. The last Cowboys game with Tom Landry as coach was a win over Washington on December 11, 1988. In the 2010s, Washington has struggled to consistently compete for the Division title, but still play the Cowboys particularly tough, posting an impressive upset victory against Dallas in 2014, despite being outclassed by the Cowboys in the overall standings. The 2010s also included an important game in week 17 of 2012 which saw Washington defeat Dallas 28–18 to win the NFC East.
==== Philadelphia Eagles ====
The competition between the Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles has been particularly intense since the late 1970s, when the long-moribund Eagles returned to contention. In January 1981, the two teams faced off in the NFC Championship, with Philadelphia winning 20–7. A series of other factors heightened tensions during the 1980s and 1990s, including several provocative actions by Philadelphia fans and Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan. Among these were the 1989 Bounty Bowls in which Ryan allegedly placed a bounty on Dallas kicker Luis Zendejas and Veterans Stadium fans pelted the Cowboys with snowballs and other debris.
A 1999 game in Philadelphia saw Eagles fans cheering as Michael Irvin lay motionless on the field at Veterans Stadium. In 2008, the rivalry became more intense when in the last game of the year in which both teams could clinch a playoff spot with a victory, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Cowboys 44–6. The following season, the Cowboys avenged that defeat by beating the Eagles three times: twice during the regular season to claim the title as NFC East champions and once more in a wild-card playoff game by a combined score of 78–30, including a 24–0 shutout in week 17. That three-game sweep was Dallas' first over any opponent and the longest winning streak against the Eagles since 1992–1995 when Dallas won seven straight matches against Philadelphia.
During the 2013 season, Dallas won the first meeting 17–3 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The two teams met again in Week 17 at AT&T Stadium with the winner clinching the 2013 NFC East title. The Cowboys came into the game at a disadvantage with starting quarterback Tony Romo out with a season-ending back injury, which put backup Kyle Orton as the starter. It was a tight game with the Eagles up 24–22 with less than 2 minutes to go in regulation. Orton got the ball and started driving down the field when he was intercepted by the Eagles defense, which ended the game and the Cowboys season. In 2014, the Cowboys and Eagles both won against each other on the road with Philadelphia posting a dominant 33–10 win on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas, and Dallas returning the favor two weeks later by defeating the Eagles 38–27 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The second game between these rivals clinched a playoff spot for Dallas and led to formerly first-place Philadelphia missing out on the post-season. Dallas leads the all-time series 73–56.
==== New York Giants ====
The first game ever played between the New York Giants and Cowboys was a 31–31 tie on December 4, 1960. Dallas logged its first win in the series on October 29, 1961, and New York's first was on November 11, 1962. Among the more notable moments in the rivalry was the Giants' defeat of Dallas in the 2007 playoffs en route to their victory in Super Bowl XLII and winning the first regular-season game played at Cowboys Stadium in 2009. Dallas currently leads the all-time series 75–47–2.
=== Conference ===
==== San Francisco 49ers ====
The bitter rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers has been going on since the 1970s. The NFL Top 10 ranked this rivalry to be the tenth best in the history of the NFL. San Francisco has played Dallas in seven postseason games. The Cowboys defeated the 49ers in the 1970 and 1971 NFC Championship games, and again in the 1972 Divisional Playoff Game. The 1981 NFC Championship Game in San Francisco, which saw the 49ers' Joe Montana complete a game-winning pass to Dwight Clark in the final minute (now known as The Catch) is one of the most famous games in NFL history. The rivalry became even more intense during the 1992–1994 seasons. San Francisco and Dallas faced each other in the NFC Championship Game three separate times. Dallas won the first two match-ups, and San Francisco won the third. In each of these pivotal match-ups, the game's victor went on to win the Super Bowl. Both the Cowboys and the 49ers are tied for third all-time in Super Bowl victories to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, with five each. The 49ers-Cowboys rivalry is also part of the larger cultural rivalry between California and Texas. The 49ers lead the all-time series with a record of 20–19–1.
==== Green Bay Packers ====
The rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers is one of the best known intra-conference rivalries in the NFL. The two teams do not play every year; instead, they play once every three years due to the NFL's rotating division schedules, or if the two teams finish in the same place in their respective divisions, they would play the ensuing season. The rivalry has also resulted in notable playoff games.
The all-time regular seasons series record is 20–17 in favor of the Packers, and the postseason series is also in favor of the Packers at 5–4.
==== Los Angeles Rams ====
The Cowboys also had a fierce rivalry with the Los Angeles Rams, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s. The two teams played eight postseason games during this period, including two NFC championship games. Between 1975 and 1980, the Cowboys faced the Rams in the playoffs five times in a six-year period. In both 1975 and 1978, the Cowboys won the NFC championship on the road in blowout fashion, only to be followed by close defeats at home in next year's divisional round. The 1980 Wild Card Round saw Dallas follow up last year's playoff defeat with another blowout victory. As of 2022, the Cowboys and Rams tied the all-time regular season series 18–18, but the Rams lead the all-time playoff series 5–4, having recently defeated the Cowboys in the 2018 Divisional Round.
==== Minnesota Vikings ====
Between the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, the Cowboys lead the all-time series 18–15. The teams have met seven times in the post-season, the Cowboys third most played playoff opponent. The rivalry is home to many key memories, including the famous 1975 Hail Mary pass against the Vikings, the Herschel Walker trade, the Randy Moss Thanksgiving game, and Brett Favre torching the Cowboys in what would be his last playoff win of his career in 2009. As of the 2023 season, the Cowboys lead the all-time series 19–15.
=== Interconference ===
==== Houston Oilers/Houston Texans ====
The Cowboys have an intrastate interconference rivalry with the Houston Texans for which they compete in either a preseason or regular season game for bragging rights in Texas, a tradition started between the teams prior to the Oilers relocating to Nashville, Tennessee to become the Tennessee Titans. The Texans defeated the Cowboys in the team's inaugural season in 2002. The Cowboys lead the all-time series 4–2.
==== Kansas City Chiefs ====
Due to the Cowboys driving his Dallas Texans out of the city, Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt held a grudge against the NFL franchise during the 1960s. In 2005, Jones compared Hunt to a wolf in sheep's clothing because of his interest in the Cowboys despite acting otherwise.
Still, Jones and Hunt were close friends and neighbors who lived by Preston Road. In 1998, Hunt created a trophy for their teams called the Preston Road Trophy that would be given to whoever won when they met. They often pranked each other when passing the trophy, while Jones quipped in 2025 that he would put it by the foot of his bed after reclaiming it from Kansas City.
CBS11 Sports wrote in 2017 that "it may not be Cowboys–Redskins, or Cowboys–Eagles, or Cowboys–Giants, but [the] Cowboys game against the Kansas City Chiefs is an old school rivalry."
==== Pittsburgh Steelers ====
The two teams met in the first regular-season game the Cowboys ever played in 1960 (a 35–28 loss to the Steelers), the first-ever regular-season victory for the expansion Cowboys in 1961, and would later meet in three Super Bowls, all of them closely contested events. The Steelers-Cowboys is to date the Super Bowl matchup with the most contests. The Steelers won Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII; both games were decided in the final seconds, first on a last-second throw by Roger Staubach, then as a fourth-quarter rally by Dallas fell short on an onside kick. The Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX in January 1996. It is said that the rivalry was fueled in the 1970s due to the stark contrast of the teams: the Cowboys, being more of a "flashy" team with Roger Staubach's aerial attack and the "flex" Doomsday Defense; while the Steelers were more of a "blue-collar" team with a strong running game and the 1970s-esque Steel Curtain defense, a contrast that still exists today. In addition, both teams have national fan bases rivaled by few NFL teams, and both come from areas with a strong following for football at all levels. Dallas leads the all-time series 17–16 including the playoffs.
== Season-by-season records ==
== Players of note ==
=== Current roster ===
=== Pro Football Hall of Famers ===
=== Super Bowl MVPs ===
The Cowboys have had seven players win Super Bowl MVP.
=== Ring of Honor ===
Unlike many NFL teams, the Cowboys do not retire jersey numbers of past standouts as a matter of policy. Instead, the team has a "Ring of Honor", which is on permanent display encircling the field. Originally at Texas Stadium, the ring is now on display at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The first inductee was Bob Lilly in 1975 and by 2005, the ring contained 17 names, all former Dallas players except for one head coach and one general manager/president.
The Ring of Honor has been a source of controversy over the years. Tex Schramm was believed to be a "one-man committee" in choosing inductees and many former Cowboys players and fans felt that Schramm deliberately excluded linebacker Lee Roy Jordan because of a bitter contract dispute the two had during Jordan's playing days. When Jerry Jones bought the team he inherited Schramm's Ring of Honor "power" and immediately inducted Jordan.
Jones also has sparked controversy regarding his decisions in handling the "Ring of Honor". For four years he was unsuccessful in convincing Tom Landry to accept induction. Meanwhile, he refused to induct Tex Schramm (even after Schramm's induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame). In 1993, thanks in part to the efforts of Roger Staubach as an intermediary, Landry accepted induction and had a ceremony on the day of that year's Cowboys-Giants game (Landry had played and coached for the Giants). In 2003, Jones chose to induct Tex Schramm. Schramm and Jones held a joint press conference at Texas Stadium announcing the induction. Schramm did not live to see his ceremonial induction at the Cowboys-Eagles game that fall.
Troy Aikman, all-time NFL leading rusher Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin, known as "The Triplets", were inducted into the Ring of Honor during halftime at a Monday Night Football home game against the archrival Washington Redskins on September 19, 2005.
Defensive end Charles Haley, offensive lineman Larry Allen, and wide receiver Drew Pearson were inducted into the Ring of Honor during halftime of the Cowboys' game vs. the Seattle Seahawks on November 6, 2011.
Safety Darren Woodson was inducted on November 1, 2015. Executive Gil Brandt was inducted on November 29, 2018.
The most recent inductees were DeMarcus Ware, who was inducted on October 29, 2023, and Jimmy Johnson, who was inducted on December 30, 2023.
=== Retired numbers ===
The Dallas Cowboys do not officially retire jersey numbers; however, some are kept "unofficially inactive". As of 2022, six numbers have been kept out of circulation: Troy Aikman's No. 8, Roger Staubach's No. 12, Bob Hayes' and Emmitt Smith's No. 22, Bob Lilly's No. 74, and Jason Witten's No. 82. The Cowboys are one of three NFL teams that do not officially retire numbers, with the other two being the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders.
=== Career leaders ===
Passing yards: 35,989 Dak Prescott (2016–2025)
Pass completions: 3,184 Dak Prescott (2016–2025)
Passing touchdowns: 248 Tony Romo (2004–2016)
Rushing yards: 17,162 Emmitt Smith (1990–2002)
Rushing touchdowns: 153 Emmitt Smith (1990–2002)
Receptions: 1,215 Jason Witten (2003–2017, 2019)
Receiving yards: 12,977 Jason Witten (2003–2017, 2019)
Receiving touchdowns: 73 Dez Bryant (2010–2017)
Points scored: 986 Emmitt Smith (1990–2002)
Field goals made: 186 Dan Bailey (2011–2017)
Total punt yardage: 24,542 Mike Saxon (1985–1992)
Punting average: 45.3 Mat McBriar (2003–2011)
Kickoff return yards: 3,518 KaVontae Turpin (2022–2025)
Punt Return yards: 1,803 Kelvin Martin (1987–1992, 1996)
Pass interceptions: 52 Mel Renfro (1964–1977)
Sacks: 117.0 DeMarcus Ware (2005–2013)
Forced fumbles: 32 DeMarcus Ware (2005–2013)
=== Single-season leaders ===
Passing yards: 4,903 Tony Romo (2012)
Passing touchdowns: 37 Dak Prescott (2021)
Rushing yards: 1,845 DeMarco Murray (2014)
Rushing touchdowns: 25 Emmitt Smith (1995)
Receptions: 135 CeeDee Lamb (2023)
Receiving yards: 1,749 CeeDee Lamb (2023)
Receiving touchdowns: 16 Dez Bryant (2014)
Points: 150 Emmitt Smith (1995)
Field goals made: 34 Richie Cunningham (1997)
Total punt yardage: 3,665 Toby Gowin (2003)
Punting average: 49.0 Mat McBriar (2008)
Kickoff return yards: 1,399 Tyson Thompson (2005)
Punt return yards: 548 James Jones, Jr. (1980)
Pass interceptions: 11 Everson Walls (1981) & Trevon Diggs (2021)
Sacks: 20.0 DeMarcus Ware (2008)
=== All-time first-round draft picks ===
The Cowboys have had the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft on three occasions.
== Head coaches and staff ==
=== Head coaches ===
=== Current staff ===
== Radio and television ==
As of 2010, the Cowboys' flagship radio station is KRLD-FM. Brad Sham is the team's longtime play-by-play voice. Working alongside him is former Cowboy quarterback Babe Laufenberg, who returned in 2007 after a one-year absence to replace former safety Charlie Waters. The Cowboys, who retain rights to all announcers, chose not to renew Laufenberg's contract in 2006 and brought in Waters. However, Laufenberg did work as the analyst on the "Blue Star Network", which televises Cowboys preseason games not shown on national networks. The anchor station is KTVT, the CBS owned and operated station in Dallas. Previous stations which aired Cowboys games included KVIL-FM, KRLD, and KLUV-FM. Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter on the radio broadcasts.
During his tenure as Cowboys coach, Tom Landry co-hosted his own coach's show with late veteran sportscaster Frank Glieber and later with Brad Sham. Landry's show was famous for his analysis of raw game footage and for him and his co-host making their NFL "predictions" at the end of each show. Glieber is one of the original voices of the Cowboys Radio Network, along with Bill Mercer, famous for calling the Ice Bowl of 1967 and both Super Bowl V and VI. Mercer is perhaps best known as the ringside commentator of WCCW in the 1980s. Upon Mercer's departure, Verne Lundquist joined the network, and became their play-by-play announcer by 1977, serving eight years in that capacity before handing those chores permanently over to Brad Sham, who joined the network in 1977 as the color analyst and occasional fill-in for Lundquist.
Longtime WFAA-TV sports anchor Dale Hansen was the Cowboys color analyst with Brad Sham as the play-by-play announcer from 1985 to 1996.
Dave Garrett served as the Cowboys' play-by-play announcer from 1995 to 1997, when Brad Sham left the team and joined the Texas Rangers' radio network team as well as broadcast Sunday Night Football on Westwood One.
Seeking to expand its radio broadcasting scope nationally, the Cowboys began a five-year partnership with Compass Media Networks on February 2, 2011. The result was the America's Team Radio Network, a supplement to the franchise's regional one. Beginning with the 2011 season, Kevin Burkhardt and Danny White handled the broadcasts, with Jerry Recco as the studio host.
== Fight song ==
The Dallas Cowboys fight song, "Cowboys Stampede March" by Tom Merriman Big Band was the official fight song of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys now play We Dem Boyz by Wiz Khalifa for starting defensive line, because of the saying "How Bout Dem Cowboys". For every touchdown scored by the Cowboys at a home game the song "Cowboys and Cut Cigars" by The Burning of Rome is played after a train horn. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_J._Maas | Sarah J. Maas | Sarah Janet Maas (born March 5, 1986) is an American fantasy author known for her series Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City. As of 2024, she has sold more than 75 million copies of her books and her work has been translated into 40 languages.
== Early life ==
Maas was born on March 5, 1986, in New York City. She was adopted by a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, and they lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Maas grew up Jewish.
Maas graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2008 with a degree in creative writing and a minor in religious studies.
== Career ==
Maas began writing what would become her debut novel, Throne of Glass, at age sixteen. She posted several chapters of the novel then titled Queen of Glass on FictionPress.com, where it became one of the most popular stories on the site. It was later removed from the site when she decided to publish the novel. The story line of the series is based on the story of Cinderella, with the premise of "What if Cinderella was not a servant, but an assassin?... what if she didn't attend the ball to meet the prince, but to kill him, instead?"
In 2008, Maas sent the novel to agents before signing with Tamar Rydzinski of The Laura Dail Literary Agency in 2009. Throne of Glass was purchased in March 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing, who later purchased two additional books in the series. The series is available in 15 countries and 35 languages. Four prequel novellas set two years before the first novel were published and later condensed into a book, The Assassin's Blade as well as an original novella. The second book of the series, Crown of Midnight was a New York Times young adult best-seller. The final book in the series, Kingdom of Ash, was released on October 23, 2018; the finished series comprised seven books plus the novella collection. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Maas's second fantasy series, is a loose retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". The first book of the series was written in 2009, but was not published until 2015. Due to the success and popularity of the original series, it was extended, and a spin-off series was announced, featuring stories of other popular characters. The fifth book in the series and the first of the spin-offs, A Court of Silver Flames, was published on February 16, 2021. The series was optioned for a television adaptation in 2021 by Hulu, but as of February 2024, the television series is no longer in active development.
On May 16, 2018, Maas announced her first adult fantasy series, Crescent City. The first book, titled House of Earth and Blood, was released by Bloomsbury on March 3, 2020. It was ranked one of the top twenty Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 2020 on Kobo. The sequel, House of Sky and Breath, was released on February 15, 2022 and won the Best Fantasy award for Goodreads Choice Awards in 2022. The third installation of the series, House of Flame and Shadow, was released on January 30, 2024.
== Critical and commercial reception ==
Maas's character development, particularly of morally-gray characters, has been lauded as one of her best qualities; her creation of detailed imaginary worlds has also seen praise. The Independent compared Maas's success to that of J. K. Rowling, noting their shared ability to inspire passionate fans, drive huge numbers of book-sales, and create complex worlds with complicated caste-systems. It also noted how Maas "was ahead of the game when it came to the rising appetite for empowering female heroines", acknowledging that her books "are notable for a [unique] defining factor: Female agency".
Vox has described Maas as Romantasy's "reigning queen", praising both her writing for being "pleasingly familiar, with a gentle touch of surprise", and her deftness in working homages and references to classic Fantasy-works into her worldbuilding.
In August 2024, the Utah State Board of Education announced six of Maas's books could not be held in libraries or classrooms at public schools or charter schools due a new state law against material deemed sensitive, pornographic, or obscene. The law requires questioned books to be "disposed" and not sold or donated. Critics characterized this action as a "book-ban", though the relevant law does not actually prohibit the sale of any books in the state, nor in any way restrict books at municipal or university libraries.
== Influences and style ==
Maas attributed her love of reading and writing fantasy to Garth Nix's novel Sabriel and Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown. She has also named movie scores, classical music, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sailor Moon as influences.
In 2020, Maas said, "The sense of discovery is why I love writing so much. It's a total thrill for me." Her books are known for their themes of romance, and Maas noted that she was surprised A Court of Thorns and Roses had been classified as young adult.
== Personal life ==
While a freshman at Hamilton, Maas met Josh Wasserman, who was a resident assistant in her dorm building. The couple got married on May 30, 2010.
Maas and Wasserman have two children, a son born in 2018 and a daughter born in 2022. They live in New York City. |
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