IN: The Darkness are an English rock band from Lowestoft, Suffolk, formed in 2000. The band consists of Justin Hawkins (lead vocals, guitar), his brother Dan Hawkins (guitar, backing vocals), Frankie Poullain (bass, backing vocals) and Rufus Tiger Taylor (drums). The Darkness came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Permission to Land, in 2003. Backed by the singles "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", and "Love is Only a Feeling", the album was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom, with sales of over 1,300,000.

The Darkness were directed by manager Sue Whitehouse, who had managed them since Justin Hawkins' time as a creator of music jingles and their original band days as Empire. The Darkness were renowned for their live show, and such was the popularity of the band, they had a Carling Homecoming gig booked for the London Astoria before they had even signed a record deal. The band already had music industry interest from their days as Empire through connections with Sue Whitehouse, who was based at Savage & Best in Camden. Joe Taylor, Aled Jones and Paul Scaife at The Tip Sheet first heard about the band through a post on The Tip Sheet message board, and featured Love Is Only A Feeling in January 2002. They started Record of the Day, and featured the song again around the time of SXSW in March 2003. They wanted to feature Friday Night too but they were told the band was saving it for an album. According to A&R Nick Raphael in an interview with HitQuarters, there was no initial clamour to sign the band, "There couldn't have been less of a buzz, and only two record labels showed any interest in them." He believes the reason for lack of interest was that "The business as a whole thought they were uncool. In fact, people were saying that they were a joke and that they weren't real." However, throughout their career critics around the world would label them as a "joke band." As part of Sony Music UK, Raphael had attempted to sign them but the band instead opted to go with Atlantic Records.
QUESTION: What are some other important aspects to the history of The Darkness?
IN: Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 - April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture". His creative period spanned more than 70 years.

According to Wright's autobiography, his mother declared when she was expecting that her first child would grow up to build beautiful buildings. She decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals torn from a periodical to encourage the infant's ambition. In 1870 the family moved to Weymouth, Massachusetts, where William ministered to a small congregation. In 1876, Anna visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia where she saw an exhibit of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Frobel. The blocks, known as Froebel Gifts, were the foundation of his innovative kindergarten curriculum. Anna, a trained teacher, was excited by the program and bought a set with which young Wright spent much time playing. The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions. In his autobiography, Wright described the influence of these exercises on his approach to design: "For several years I sat at the little Kindergarten table-top... and played... with the cube, the sphere and the triangle--these smooth wooden maple blocks... All are in my fingers to this day... " Many of Wright's buildings are notable for their geometrical clarity. The Wright family struggled financially in Weymouth and returned to Spring Green, Wisconsin, where the supportive Lloyd Jones clan could help William find employment. They settled in Madison, where William taught music lessons and served as the secretary to the newly formed Unitarian society. Although William was a distant parent, he shared his love of music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, with his children. Soon after Wright turned 14, his parents separated. Anna had been unhappy for some time with William's inability to provide for his family and asked him to leave. The divorce was finalized in 1885 after William sued Anna for lack of physical affection. William left Wisconsin after the divorce and Wright claimed he never saw his father again. At this time he changed his middle name from Lincoln to Lloyd in honor of his mother's family, the Lloyd Joneses.
QUESTION: What did Wright do after?
IN: John Brian "George" Statham, CBE (17 June 1930 - 10 June 2000) was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast. This, together with unflagging accuracy and the ability to make the ball - new or old - break back, made Statham a consistent force both for Lancashire in the County Championship and in Test cricket, where his strikepower helped give England perhaps its strongest attack of the 20th century during the 1950s and early 1960s. He overtook Alec Bedser's record of 236 Test wickets in the Fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval in 1962-63.

After being relieved of the Lancashire captaincy, Statham announced that the 1968 season would be his last - indeed he announced early on he would not play after the August Bank Holiday match with Yorkshire. With Lancashire no longer dependent on him due to Higgs' great form, Statham still went off on a high note with a first innings return of 6 for 31. In 1968, he took 69 wickets at an average of 17.08. Statham had given such service to Lancashire that the county gave him a second benefit in 1969, but it raised only PS1,850 compared to over PS13,800 for his 1961 benefit. Statham was also appointed a CBE in 1968 in recognition of his services to cricket. Statham became a member of the Lancashire committee in 1970, and was a member of it until 1995. He was appointed as president of the club from 1997 to 1998. Believing after erroneous media reports that Statham was in financial trouble, Fred Trueman organised two testimonial dinners to raise money for Statham. He died of leukemia a week before his 70th birthday, survived by his wife Audrey and two sons and a daughter. The section of Warwick Road which runs past Lancashire County Cricket Club's Old Trafford Cricket Ground was renamed "Brian Statham Way" in Statham's honour. Incidentally, the other end of Warwick Road was previously renamed Sir Matt Busby Way after the former Manchester United manager, as the road runs past their stadium's Scoreboard End. On 30 July 2011 Tameside Council dedicated a plaque to Brian for permanent display at Denton West Cricket Club which was unveiled by Brian's widow Audrey in the presence of Brian's former teammates Geoff Clayton and Colin Hilton.
QUESTION:
What else did he do in his last season?